Forbidden Love
by WhatItSeems
Summary: Justin and Alex have always secretly crushed on eachother. When they are home alone, a fight breaks out and they do the unthinkable.Will their secret be exposed? Is there a spell that will allow them to be together? But at what cost? Jalex
1. A Few Moments

It all started on Monday afternoon, when Justin had started to want a new book on Wizarding Biology. In order to raise money for it, his parents had requested he do more chores to raise his allowence. On Friday afternoon, Justin sat slumped on his couch, flipping through the TV stations as he waited patiently for the dryer to finish. He finally settled on a show, and settled back to watch it for the next thirty minutes.

The door slammed, and Alex stomped in, her black coat flecked with snow. She immediatly noticed Justin, and moved to sit in the chair. "I hate this show," She complained.

Justin sighed, and turned the volume up. "You're fifteen minutes late, Dad wants to start with lessons soon so we have to go to the lair."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Then what are you still doing here?"

"I have to do laundry," Justin said.

Alex snorted. "Wow, you are a good little housewife aren't you?"

"Shut up Alex."

Alex mimicked Justin, but he ignored it.

"Well, since your here, you might as well just wait to leave with me," Justin said. He had already missed half of the show, and was a little annoyed.

"Fine, but I get my choice of TV," Alex countered.

Justin glanced at her in disbelief. He faked handing her the remote, and when she reached for it, he snatched it back. "Not gonna happen," He said, just as the dryer went off. Alex smirked.

"Actual, I believe it will," She said. Justin sighed and tossed her the remote as he went to hang and fold the clothes, and listened as Alex changed the station.

Justin made his way to the laundry room and opened the dryer door. A pile of clothing fell out, and he grumbled as he picked it up and tossed it on top of the washing machine. He then began to shovel his way through the clothing, folding and hanging as fast as he could so he could get to the lessons. He winced as he was forced to fold underwear.

And then he pulled out a lacy, yellow bra and obviously matching bottoms. His stomach lurched as he realized it belonged to Alex. Suddenly, he began to imagine what she would look like in this attire. Then, ashamed of himself, he shook his head and quickly folded the clothing, and shoved the undergarments under a pile of socks.

He took a few deep breaths, and began on the laundry again.

He hated to admit it, but every since the summer when he had seen Alex in a bikini, he had had some moments where he began thinking of Alex as not really a sister, but something desirable. he had tried to control his thoughts, and they didn't happen that often, especially with his girlfriend Miranda around. But every now in then, with moments like this, he would begin to indulge in fantasies he knew he shouldn't be. Alex was his sister. He should not be thinking this. He fought to ignore his arousal, and finished the laundry.

He then tried to think of Miranda to banish the thoughts of Alex, but the image of her kept popping in at the edge of his mind. Normally, he would have tried harder to ignore it, but he was late for lessons and he needed to get going. So instead he grabbed his jacket and rushed out of the door, calling for Alex and telling her it was time to leave.

* * *

When they got to the lair, their Dad was waiting for them, a little bit angry, but he started the lesson without saying anything.

"Ok, today we will be learning about how to change items into different colors..." Jerry began to say, and he gestured towards the blackboard. Justin tried to pay attention, but he was still struggling not to think about Alex. She had taken off her Jacket, and was wearing a white button-down shirt and a denim mini-skirt over blue leggings. He suddenly had the urge to un-button her shirt, and slide his hand under her skirt...

Stop it! His mind screamed at him, and he hit himself on the forehead to dispel his thoughts.

"Justin what are you doing?" Jerry asked suddenly. He, Max, and Alex were staring at him like he was crazy.

Justin felt his face heat up. "Umm, there...was...a bug?" He tried. Jerry chose to accept it.

"Fine, well, try to change the pencil blue," Jerry said.

Justin's blush deepened, because he realized he did not know the spell. "Ummm..."

"Justin, is something wrong?" Jerry looked concerned.

"Err, no...just...kind of...stressed," Justin lied. In reality, it was the dark-haired girl sitting right next to him...

"Well, I guess lessons are over for today. Alex, Justin? Your mom and I are going to take Max to the dentist and then to a movie, we'll be out for a few hours."

"Ok," Both kids said.

"The dentist? Come on!" Max complained.

"You get to see the movie," Jerry pointed out.

Max crossed his arms. "Fine."

* * *

When Alex and Justin got back home, there was immediately a fight over the remote.

"It's mine!"

"I was here first!"

"You watched it last!"

"Yeah, for five minutes while you were doing laundry!"

"Just give me the-" Justin lunged for the remote, accidentally swatting the remote out of Alex's hands and onto the floor. They both lunged for it on the ground, and wrestled for it. The remote was knocked under a table, and they both clambered to get it. Then, suddenly, Justin rolled over as Alex crawled to get to the remote, and he ended up on top of her, their faces an inch away.

Justin swallowed hard as Alex's breath swirled around his face.

"Justin?" Alex said. She noticed her brother was looking at her strangely.

Justin couldn't control himself. She was so close, her body pressed against him, and all his thoughts he had tried to ignore came rushing through his head. Before he could think, or analyze his actions, he leaned down and gently captured her lips in his.

It lasted for about two seconds, and then he pulled away and scrambled up in horror. "Oh my god."

Alex was still on the ground, dazed and confused. The scene had gone from fighting, to intimate, to horror so fast her head was still spinning. Or perhaps it was from the kiss.

"Justin, what was that?" She said shakily. Justin shook his head.

"Sorry, Alex, it was...nothing. I just, oh god, sorry, your my sister, I don't know what I was doing and-"

"Justin," Alex interrupted. "Justin that was..." He noticed she was blushing. "It was...nice."

There was a silence.

"Alex," Justin said, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Alex, you're my sister."

Alex nodded at the truth, and gave up. She sat up and smoothed her hair and she grabbed the remote, vaguely reveling in the victory, and went to sit on the couch. Suddenly, however, Justin was standing in front of her, and he bent down to kiss her again.

"Justin," Alex said once he let her breathe. "What happened to 'you're my sister'?"

"That was a fact, not a rejection." Justin said, and leaned down to kiss her again.

"But-" She protested. "You're my brother. It is not right."

"Alex." Justin pulled back, his eyes full of lust. "Please. I need you."

Alex took a long second, biting her lip as Justin waited impatiently. Truthfully, she had feared she had a tiny crush on Justin for a little while, but had tried to ignore her feelings. But now that she knew that he like her too, she didn't have to hide. But they were still siblings…but at the same time she could no longer deny what she felt. Finally she reached up and pulled Justin to her. They kissed harder, and Justin pulled so she was lying down on the rug. He began to kiss her collarbone, and his fingers went to her top button. He unbuttoned her shirt, and then kissed his way down to her bra. He noticed it was a white version of the yellow one. He could hardly believe this fantasy was reality.

He was brought back by Alex moaning "Justin..."

He obliged, and unhooked her bra and tossed it away. He massaged her chest, pinching her nipples and making them harden. Then he brought he mouth down and copied the movements with his tongue. Alex moaned and ground her hips into him. She felt his hard-on against her.

Justin moved to her other breast, and she was gasping. When he lifted his head she reached her hands under his shirt and ran her hands along his chest, and felt his stomach muscles tighten beneath her fingers when she ran them along his skin. She peeled of her shirt so there was no barrier. Justin moved his hands lower, and peeled off her leggings and then her skirt. He pulled away her soaking wet panties. "Alex..." He moaned when he saw how wet she was, just for him. He then began to stroke her, and played with her clit.

"Ahh, Justin," Alex gasped as he slid a finger inside her. He thrusted them in and out as her hips bucked, and he added more fingers and continued playing with her clit. She moaned loudly when she came, and sank back against the carpet.

Justin then decided it was now. He unbuckled his belt and pulled off the rest of his clothing. He bent down to kiss her on the lips and positioned himself at her entrance. He noticed the sudden look of fear in her eyes and kissed her on the forehead to calm her. "Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes," Alex said, and he nodded and thrust himself in her slowly, breaking through her barrier. She screamed and gripped his shoulders hard. He pulled out and thrust again, running his hands down her arms and whispering softly to her as tears slid down her cheeks in the pain. But he kept it slow, and his sweetness helped ease the pain into pleasure. Finally, it subsided, and she gasped when he thrust again, hitting a sweet spot.

"Justin," She moaned, loosening her death grip and moving her hands down his back. "Harder."

Justin sighed in relief; he had not wanted to hurt her, and he began to push harder, hitting the same spot. She arched her back and moaned, taking him in deeper and harder. Her nails bit into his back as the pace quickened. He hit the spot again and again, and she gasped in pleasure. He watched as her eyes began to darken as she climbed to her peak. He began to thrust faster and faster, and she arched in response, matching his pace. She was so close to climaxing, and she was moaning loudly.

"Justin!" She cried out as she finally came. Justin moaned her name as well when after a few more thrust he found release. He collapsed on top of her, but then quickly shifted so Alex was cradled on his chest. After a few blissful moments, Alex spoke.

"Justin, what are we going to do?" Alex asked. Their parents would be home in roughly an hour. It pained her to think all she and Justin would ever have was a few hours.

"We keep it a secret," Justin said.

"And?" Alex pressed.

"Enjoy these few moments," Justin answered, and kissed her softly.

**I originally planned this as a oneshot, but I might write more. Reviews appreciated!**


	2. Regret

When the parents returned home, they were greeted by Alex and Justin sitting on opposite sides of the room. Alex was sprawled on the chair to the right of the TV, and Justin was sitting on the staircase, his head in his hands. He really was just trying to fight of the guilt of having just taken away his own sister's innocence, but to Jerry and Theresa they only came to one conclusion.

"Alright, what was broken, who started the fight, and are there any elves, goblins, or other miscellaneous magical creatures running around we should know about?" Jerry demanded. Justin jerked up from his sitting position, and Alex just lifted her head.

"No," They said in unison.

Max walked then just walked into the room (he'd gotten distracted by the snowfall outside) and wandered into the kitchen, oblivious to the tension in the room. He opened the fridge and pulled out a can of orange soda before turning around, and noticing the look on his parent's face.

"What? I promise I'll drink milk during dinner," He said.

"Max!" Theresa said. "You just got your teeth cleaned!"

Justin took this moment to escape. "Well, I'm just going to go up to my room now, bye Max…" He said and ran upstairs. Alex too leaped from the couch and headed in that direction.

"Yeah, me too," She said and waved goodbye to her parents. "Uhh, I mean to _my _room, not to Justin's room, because…umm…" She stopped, and then just ran up the stairs.

Jerry and Theresa glanced at each other in confusion. "Well…" Theresa said, then sighed. "The house is in one piece. I won't complain." And then she just drifted off towards the kitchen to make dinner. Max downed the soda, and Jerry crashed on the couch, switching the channel to a game.

* * *

Upstairs, Justin was still wallowing. His eyes were shut, and he was trying to forget the thoughts running through his head. On one hand, he was extremely ashamed of himself. On the other, he was reliving the beauty of the moment, and then felt ashamed again for thinking of what had happened as beautiful. It was most certainly not _beautiful._ Sure, the first hour the two of them had just curled up on the couch together. But after the glow had faded, Justin had been horrified at what he had done. It was incest. It was wrong.

But he still couldn't shake the feeling of happiness. Alex most certainly liked him back, didn't she?

But no, no, no, no, it was all wrong. She was his sister. He had slept with her. He had taken her innocence.

_But, at least it was me_, Justin thought, _instead of some other guy_.

_No!_ His mind screamed at him. _No, another guy would have been fine. Another guy would not have been her brother. _

"Justin, you idiot," He hissed at himself, just as his door creaked open.

"Justin?" A voice asked.

Alex.

A mixture of shame and pleasure swirled in his brain when he saw her approach him slowly. She was so pretty. But, no, no, no, he should not be thinking that.

"Are you mad at me?" Alex asked, looking genuinely concerned. Justin stared at her in shock.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Justin asked, confused.

"Because…" Alex shifted nervously. "Because I didn't stop you."

Justin stared at her I shock. She was mad because he hadn't stopped her? Like she could have stopped him. "No," He said.

Alex smiled. "Ok, good." Then to his surprise, she reached across him, grabbed a pillow, and whacked him hard.

"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Justin cowered as she hit him again.

"For being a sulking idiot!" Alex said. "We just..." She broke off and lowered her voice. "We just did-you know- and you were walking around like I'd put itching powder in your underwear again!"

"Wait that was you?" Justin said. "You said it was Max!"

"I lied!" Alex hit him with the pillow again.

"Ow, stop hitting me!" Justin said and rolled over to the other side of the bed.

"You deserve it!" Alex hissed and dropped the pillow.

Justin rolled back over and looked at her, noticing he had truly upset her. He opened his mouth to apologize.

"Justin! Alex! Time for dinner!" Theresa called. Justin scrambled off the bed and quickly pulled Alex with him.

"Act normal," Alex whispered. "They're already suspicious."

"Got it," Justin said, and they both headed down for dinner.

* * *

Dinner was silent. Max was angry because he was being forced to eat all his vegetables, the parents were trying to figure out what was wrong with their older children, and Alex and Justin were trying to act like they didn't like each other. Every time they accidentally glanced at each other, they quickly looked away for fear their parents might think something was going on between them. Of course, they did think something was going on between them, but just not _that_ type of something.

Finally, it was over, the parents were asleep, and Max was watching TV on the couch. Alex motioned for Justin to follow her, and she led him upstairs and up to her room, shutting the door behind her and sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Justin," She said seriously. "We need to talk."

**I know the ending is a little abrupt, but I'm actually splitting this chapter into two. Hope you enjoyed it. **


	3. Boyfriend Trouble

Alex leaned back and crossed her arms, waiting for Justin to respond. He sighed and swallowed hard, but knew she was (for once) right, and walked a few steps before sinking to the floor a foot in front of her. It was a little awkward to have to crane his head to look at her, but he didn't want to sit close to her on the bed. Alex rolled her eyes and pushed herself off the bed, sitting cross-legged on the floor across from him, closing the distance slightly.

There was silence as Justin waited for Alex to begin, and Alex wondered where to start. She cleared her throat and tucked a piece of hair behind her ears. Justin tried to ignore how cute she looked like that, and averted his eyes to stare at the floor.

"So, just to get this straight," Alex said, "You aren't mad, but you've been avoiding me. What is wrong?"

Justin snuck a quick glance at her before darting his gaze back to the carpet. What was wrong?

They had just…"did it", for one.

They were brother and sister.

And he was fighting feelings for her.

"Justin, all you said was that we would keep it a secret. Is that why you are acting weird?" Alex continued, trying to get him to stop ignoring her. She reached out and shoved his shoulder, as if that could get him to actually look at her.

"Alex," Justin said carefully. He still looked at the carpet. "I know that…I pushed myself….pushed you….into this but-"

"Justin," Alex spoke seriously. "You didn't push me. I wanted it, too."

"I took your…"

"So? It wasn't like it was with some stupid guy. It was you. It was meaningful," Alex protested.

"Its incest," Justin said quietly.

Alex was silent for a moment. "So, there is just, no hope? One time, and you're done?" She was close to tears.

Justin finally looked up at her, and he instantly felt deep regret. The last thing he wanted was to make her cry. He shook his head. "I didn't mean it like that."

"So, what did you mean?" Alex demanded, letting a tear slide down her face.

"I'm a little uncomfortable with the fact that we are experimenting with something taboo," Justin said.

"I kind of am too," Alex said. "But I still want to try it. What exactly is the harm? No one has to know."

Justin was silent, thinking it over.

"Oh sure, when it comes to having sex, you have no problem with diving right in, but when we talk relationships…" Alex muttered. "Typical male."

"Well how would this relationship work, then?" Justin countered. "Can we date other people?"

Alex thought about it. "Well, we might, just to keep it looking normal. But…we can't have boyfriends or girlfriends," She added.

Justin sighed. "This is complicated."

"So you just want to give up?"

"No," Justin said.

"So, we'll try?" Alex brightened up.

Justin frowned, and instantly he saw everything that was wrong, and could go wrong, right before his eyes. But his emotions were churning in his stomach, and the object of his…love? like? was sitting right across from him, her face bright with hope.

"Yeah," He finally said. "We'll try."

* * *

NEXT DAY

Alex was sitting in Spanish class, doodling idly in her notebook. Her pen scratched against the margin of her paper as her teacher droned on about the right conjugation of some verb. Riley then tried to catch her eye with a smile. She lifted her head and briefly met it before returning to her notebook.

Harper nudged her in the elbow. Alex jerked up but saw her friend holding a folded note. Alex reluctantly took it, and carefully unfolded it under her desk.

_Alex- want to go to the movies Friday?- Riley_

Alex bit her bottom lip. On one hand, she herself had admitted dating was ok. But going to the movies only meant one thing: Riley was ready for a make-out.

Alex reached over and snatched the pen from where she had wasted half of its ink drawing hearts, and quickly wrote back a rejection, blaming it on a family thing, and sent it back before returning to her drawings. Then the bell rang. She stood, and gathered her books while Harper began to talk excitedly about how cute Riley was and how she and him were perfect for each other. Alex just nodded and headed towards her locker.

Just then she heard a shout in the hallway.

"Hey, Alex!" Riley came striding over to her locker. Harper quickly finished her sentence and left, giving them alone time. On any other day, Alex would have appreciated this. But not today.

"So, Alex, you're acting kind of weird," Riley commented.

Alex glanced briefly at him before switching her books. Riley grabbed them automatically, preparing to walk her to class. On any other day, it would have been a sweet gesture.

But not today.

"Alex?" Riley pressed.

"Um, yeah sorry, it's just, you know, stress, with school, and…you know…other stuff," Alex stammered. It was a poor excuse, but Riley bought it.

"Oh, well, do you want to go out Saturday?" Riley asked.

"Umm…I don't know," Alex said, just as Justin walked out of a class. She saw him look at her and Riley.

"Do you not like me?" Riley asked.

"No, of course I do," Alex said quickly.

"Am I a bad kisser or something?" Riley asked quietly, he was obviously uncomfortable.

"No," Alex said.

"Oh, ok, good," Riley said, then leaned down to kiss her.

As he did, Alex could see Justin was watching. Alex panicked. She couldn't kiss Riley. But at the same time, what was she supposed to do? Turn away? She had to act normal.

So she let Riley kiss her, as guilt spread through her entire body.

And when she pulled away, Justin was gone.


	4. Making Up

When Alex arrived at the sandwich shop for her shift, her mother was sweeping the floor, her dad was making a ham sandwich, and Max was serving a drink. She moved around the counter to grab her apron, then went into the kitchen. Justin was not there.

She walked out and took her place at the cash register, wondering if maybe he was just in the bathroom. She took care of a few orders, and after 20 minutes, she finally decided to try to bring up her brother's absence as casually as possible.

"Hey Mom, where is Justin?" Alex said while giving someone their change. She quickly thought up an excuse for the question. "I mean uhh…we're swamped and we kind of need his help."

Theresa glanced up from the broom and surveyed the tables, then turned to give Alex a weird look. "There are only six customers."

"Very demanding customers," Alex countered. Theresa gave another weird look before she finally answered the question.

"He's upstairs, he claimed he was feeling a little sick," Theresa said. "My poor baby," She murmured under her breath. "I hope it's not a bug going around."

Alex swallowed as the guilt seeped in. She knew exactly what was plaguing Justin, and it was all her fault. She served a man a sandwich and returned to her post, her hands shaking a little bit. She couldn't leave the shop now, though, without seeming suspicious. She would just have to deal with the next hour.

The door opened and Harper bounced in, wearing a new shell necklace she had just made. She bounded cheerfully to the counter and sat on the stool. "Hey Alex," She said.

Alex took a deep breath and tried to smile. "Hey."

"Oh my god I cannot believe Riley asked you out!" Harper squealed. Alex inwardly moaned. How was she going to deal with this?

"Um, yeah, exciting," Alex said, trying to match her friend's excited tone. Harper carried on without noticing how hollow the words sounded.

"So, what are you going to wear?" Harper asked.

"Not sure yet."

"We should go shopping Friday and buy a perfect outfit," Harper suggested.

"Sure," Alex said, and took care of another customer while Harper waited patiently.

"I wish I had a perfect guy like Riley," Harper sighed dreamily.

"You'll find him," Alex reassured.

"I already did," Harper reminded her. "But Justin is not interested."

Alex's heart beat faster. No, Justin was not interested in Harper, but in herself. She felt another wave of guilt wash over her for stealing her friend's crush away. And she also felt regret, because she knew she couldn't confide in her.

"He's a guy," Alex said. "He'll come around." But she secretly hoped he wouldn't. Of course, what had happened today at school might have changed that. She glanced at the clock. Twenty more minutes and she could see him again.

"I hope so," Harper said. "Where is he, by the way?"

"He's sick," Alex said.

"Aww," Harper made a pouty face.

"So, do you want a sandwich?" Alex said, trying to change the subject.

Harper smiled. "Sure."

* * *

Alex left the shop as soon as possible, and tried her best not to rush up the stairs. Thankfully, her parents were still working and Max was eating, so she had a good fifteen minutes or so to be alone before Max came home.

She approached his door carefully, a little nervous and still feeling incredibly guilty. She didn't bother knocking, since she never did anyways, and just pushed the door open and shut it behind her.

Justin lay sprawled over his, his hand over his eyes, his chest rising up and down slowly. He was possibly asleep, since he didn't move when she walked to the side of his bed.

"Justin?" Alex said quietly and pushed his hands off his face. Justin's eyes snapped open, and he looked up at her with a deeply hurt expression.

"Hi Alex," He said softly.

"Justin, I'm sorry," Alex said sincerely. "I had to kiss him."

"I know," Justin said, closing his eyes again and ending the conversation. Alex sighed and bit the inside of her cheek, trying to think of what to say to make the situation better. She couldn't think of words, so she chose a different option. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she bent down slowly to kiss him lightly. It was meant to be soft; a quick, reassuring kiss that would tell him Riley meant nothing. But as she pulled away Justin's hands came up to pull her closer, and eventually on top of him. Her heart pounded as he kissed her back, his hands threading through her hair. She wondered how Justin had become such a good kisser, and then realized he had probably practiced on Miranda. She pushed that thought away.

Justin rolled and pulled Alex beneath him, so now he was on top. They kissed harder, her tongue begging for entrance, which he allowed. She locked her hands around his neck, keeping the two of them close.

"I forgive you," Justin breathed and kissed her again.

"Of course it takes a kiss-apology…" Alex rolled her eyes teasingly, but sighed with relief as her lips met his.

"Justin! Alex! Are you guys home?" Max's voice rang through the house. Justin quickly broke away, and Alex's hands fell to her sides as Justin rolled off, breathing heavily. Alex sat up and smoothed her hair and clothes before hopping off the bed. She glanced at Justin, who was looking a lot better than before, and smiled at him. He smiled back. Alex then moved to the door and opened it before running to the top of the steps.

"We're upstairs," Alex called and ran down the steps.

Max was on the couch, watching the TV.

"Oh," he said, focusing on the cartoon he was watching. Alex rolled her eyes, but she was feeling better now that Justin was happier, and settled on the chair to lose herself to the stupid songs and jokes of the show.

Justin then came down the stairs, and he headed towards the fridge for something to drink before joining Max on the couch.

"Dad said that we have wizard lessons in an hour," Max said.

Justin and Alex had just locked eyes and were staring at each other. They quickly broke away and glanced at Max, who was just oblivious to their moment. "Ok," They said in unison.

* * *

Alex lay back on her bed, and closed her eyes as she sank into the soft pillows. She felt the stress of the past hours slowly leave her body, and she was finally glad to be at peace.

She no longer saw Justin's hurt face every time she closed her eyes; and the guilty not in her stomach had loosened. He had forgiven her. And she was still wrapped in a tiny bubble of happiness she felt from kissing Justin.

And in that moment, when Alex had finally reached pure bliss for the first time in the past couple of days, her cell vibrated from her nightstand.

Her eyes snapped open, the peace disappeared, and she quickly scrambled to the other side of her bed to flip her cell open. It read that she had a new text message from Riley.

Why now?

Why? Why? Why?

Letting out a frustrated huff of breath, she clicked on the message. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself before she read it.

_Alex- We still on for Saturday? I'll pick you up at 6.- Riley_

Alex groaned. She had forgotten about Saturday. But she knew she couldn't reject him. Keeping her relationship with Justin a secret was the top priority. But she had just made up with him, and now she had to go on a date with someone else.

Reluctantly, she quickly sent back an approval of the plan and sent it as there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Alex said.

Justin pushed open the door and quickly stepped inside, finally closing the door.

"They're finally all asleep," He said, sitting beside her on the bed.

Alex inwardly screamed. She wanted to tell him about the date, but it wasn't the right time. They had just made up, and now Justin was looking really cute with his hair disheveled from sitting on the couch. She shut her phone and put it back down next to her clock. Then, grinning, she leaned over to give Justin a kiss. Their lips were almost touching when she pulled back quickly and knocked him off her bed.

"Ahh! What was that for?" Justin demanded as he fell on the floor.

"I don't know, I felt like it," Alex shrugged and helped him up.

"You would think after what we have been through in the past few days you wouldn't pull stuff like th-" Alex silenced him when she pressed her lips against his.

When they pulled apart, Justin smirked. "Or we could just do that."

Alex smiled. "You said they were all asleep?"

Justin rolled his eyes at the sudden atmosphere change. "I highly doubt they are _that_ asleep."

"Justin Russo get your mind out of the gutter," Alex said.

Justin just shrugged. "We can still kiss."

Alex entwined her hands in his, wanting to enjoy the small moments. "Works for me," She said, and let him wipe Riley from her mind.

**I am so excited, I almost have this entire plot finished for this story**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	5. The Note

Justin woke up to the sunlight streaming through the open window. The blinds were still up, so the morning light beat relentlessly into the room. Justin moved his head to glance at the clock, since the rest of his body was pinned down by Alex's sleeping form. It read 6:00. Pefect.

Stretching, Justin yawned and rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up. For the past couple of days, he had slept in Alex's room, and snuck out each morning before their parents woke up. He slowly slid himself off the bed, pleased that he had finally perfected the technique of leaving the room without waking Alex. He opened the door quietly, and walked silently to his own room to get ready for school.

He and Alex had had a near perfect rest of the week. They would pass notes in the hallways, or sometimes discreetly slide them into each other's lockers. They would have a good twenty minutes to be alone everyday after they finished their shifts at the shop, and when their parents were asleep Justin would sneak into Alex's room. It wasn't the best way to have a relationship (it was hard keeping something this big a secret), but they were making it work. And, most importantly, they tried not think about the future. Then they would both realize how doomed their love really was.

So they kept their thoughts on the present, and spent every moment possible together. It was all they had.

Justin finished dressing when he heard his door open. He didn't have to turn to know it was Alex.

"Hi," Alex said. Justin noticed that she was fully dressed with her hair done. With a jolt he looked at the clock and realized a full forty minutes had passed. He must have been thinking for a long time. Justin shook his head before smiling at Alex.

Alex rolled her eyes. "Aren't we just a little slow this morning?" She said, and moved to sit crossed legged on his bed. Justin snorted and leaned down to kiss her lightly, something they both had been getting quite accustomed to.

Alex, however, pulled away quickly. Justin frowned. "Is there something wrong?"

Alex took a deep breath. She had gotten another text from Riley, as well as his daily presence that served as a reminder, that had caused her to realize she had yet to warn Justin about the date. She had figured she's better get it over with, and figured if she told him now she would have all of today and most of tomorrow to prepare him for it. Alex opened her mouth, trying to force the words out through a lump of guilt coiling in her stomach.

"Justin! Alex! Breakfast!" Theresa's voice shouted. Justin and Alex both jumped as the silence was shattered. Alex leaped off the bed. "I'll tell you later," She said, and quickly rushed downstairs.

Justin stared, confusion written all across his face, before he shook his head and followed in Alex's footsteps.

* * *

"Soooo, Alex, are you excited?" Harper said at lunch, gesturing towards her friend across the table with her fork.

Alex swallowed her food. "What?"

"For the date, silly," Harper rolled her eyes and finished off her soup.

"Oh, yeah, of course," Alex said.

"Do you know what you're going to wear?" Harper said.

"Uhh, my black jeans and my blue top I bought last weekend, remember?" Alex said. She wondered how Justin would like that outfit.

"Oh, really?" Harper sounded a little disappointed.

"What?" Alex said, taken aback. Normally Harper was very supportive of her outfits.

"I was just thinking it would be, I don't know, a little sexier," Harper said, and smirked when she saw Alex raise an eyebrow. "Maybe that purple v-neck?"

"I don't know…" Alex said dismissively. She really wasn't into attracting that type of attention from Riley.

"I think you should," Harper said.

"Ok," Alex agreed, just to end the topic.

"Hey, maybe I can come over this afternoon and help you pick out an outfit," Harper said.

Alex opened her mouth to agree, because she, in truth, was still feeling a little guilty over stealing Harper's crush (and that she had not spent time with Harper outside of school), when she remembered that that would cut into the time she and Justin had. "Umm," She said, stalling for an excuse.

"Are you ok?" Harper asked.

"Uh, this afternoon isn't good, but how about tomorrow? Fourish? The date is at 6," Alex suggested.

"Ok," Harper smiled.

Alex sighed, glad that Harper was so easy to be around. Then she saw Justin pass by before going to sit at another table. He and Alex locked eyes for a second before he moved by the table. Harper hyperventilated when he glanced in their direction, and Alex took this moment to quickly write a message on a napkin and shove it in her purse.

"I'll be right back," Alex said, and quickly left the table towards Justin's locker to deliver the note.

**sorry this took me so long, I did have the plot wrote out, but I had difficulty finding the time to actually begin writing the stuff down. The next updates will come much faster. **


	6. I'm Sorry

The last bell rang, leaving a split second of peace before the doors banged open and the hallways exploded with noise and kids. Shoes squeaked, papers fluttered, voices rose with excitement. Justin forced himself through the crowd. He pushed his way to his locker and struggled with the lock.

_Right to clear it come on lets hear it…_ He tried to sing quietly to himself. He spun the lock and the door clicked open. He caught a slight whiff of perfume before a piece of paper fluttered to the top of his shoe. A letter from Alex.

He bent down to pick it up, quickly unfolding it. He saw her cute little handwriting that formed two very confusing words across the page: _I'm sorry._

Sorry? Sorry for what?

Baffled, Justin tore the note up and quickly gathered the rest of his books before slamming his locker shut. A familiar laugh jolted him as he jerked to the left, where he spotted a brunette girl and a guy holding hands, both of them smiling.

It was Alex and Riley.

A small lump formed in his stomach as he saw the two of them. He recognized it as jealousy. Riley could openly claim Alex as his. While he, Justin, could not. It was so completely unfair.

Now Alex's note made sense. She was obviously feeling very guilty. Justin almost smiled. He would have to explain to her soon that she shouldn't feel so bad. It was the way things had to be.

"So, are you ready for our date?" Riley whispered, but Justin still managed to hear it in the now empty halls.

"Yeah, I can't wait for Saturday," Alex smiled and pecked him on the cheek.

Now Justin frowned.

Oh.

That was what the note meant.

He was going to have to watch the girl he loved go out on a date with an undeserving jerk.

Then his eyes widened as he was hit with a sudden realization.

No, he thought to himself.

Alex should be able to go on dates with a guy without needing to feel guilty.

Riley should be able to openly claim Alex as his.

Why?

Because it was normal. Because it was legal. Because it was the way things were supposed to be.

How could he have been so stupid?

He had struggled this entire time not to think about his future. But he realized that had been a foolish mistake. What were he and Alex going to do later? Remain a secret? Go on dates with other people, leading them on, then going home and loving each other?

What about when they were much older, and they would be expected to get married. What then? Were they going to cheat on their spouses because they loved each other?

Justin had been stupid to think he and Alex could just "wait and see" with their relationship. The truth, the truth that he had been avoiding, was that, no matter how much they loved each other, no matter how much their love was true, there was only one inevitable end.

They could not continue.

It wasn't fair to themselves to cheat each other out of normal relationships. It wasn't fair to the ones they were dating.

Their forbidden love was wrong on all accounts.

And Justin had allowed it to happen.

Closing his eyes, Justin pictured what Alex had looked like when he had seen her after she had been born. He remembered being two, and being excited about having another sibling around to play with. He remembered thinking Alex looked odd and squishy, but it would still not crush his overall excitement.

He remembered the first time he had realized he was in love.

Now that memory brought a bad taste in his mouth.

No.

He would not allow his brief love with Alex to be tainted. He would always treasure it, even if he found someone he could love and marry.

But now he knew the truth. It was crushing him, but he would have to do it.

He would have to end it.

There was simply no other way.

He glanced at the shredded piece of paper.

"I'm sorry too, Alex," He whispered.

**Sorry again for the long time it took for an update. Thanks for all the readers who still stick to this story. I'm doing my best to find time to write this out, but I promise I'll keep working on this story**

**Thanks to all your reviews, and incase I don't get a chance to reply to them all, your comments are really appreciated.**


	7. Liar

**so sorry about the slow update- I really wanted to get this perfect and I've been really busy with school and everything, but during study hall I've come up with enough material for most of the story, so updates should be more frequent. **

Alex bounded cheerfully into the shop, walking up to sit on a bar stool while Justin sat behind the counter, taking someone's order.

"So I would like a steak n' cheese with no cheese, please," The man requested. Justin looked up from the cash register to give him a puzzled look.

"So, you mean a steak sub?" Justin asked. The man sighed loudly, as if Justin was completely wasted his time.

"No….," He said, this time talking slower, as if that would clarify his order. "I want a _steak n' cheese….no steak._"

"So you want a-"

"Wait, I change my mind," The man interrupted, "I want meatball sub instead. No meatballs."

"Are, is this some prank thing?" Justin said while taking the man's money.

"I am completely serious."

"Ok…then, your order will be up soon," Justin said, and the man went to go sit at a table by the window.

Alex grinned and rolled her eyes at Justin, but his eyes remained glued to the counter.

"Justin? Justin? Hellooooooooo?" Alex waved her hand in front of Justin's eyes, then began to poke him in the shoulder when she received no response.

"Alex, stop annoying your brother," Theresa said, stepping out of the kitchen with Jerry, who were hanging up their aprons.

"Ok, now remember, when that man finishes his sandwich, close up the shop, we'll be home around 11, and Max is staying at a friend's house," Jerry said.

"Where are you going?" Alex asked.

"Dancing," Theresa smiled.

Alex glanced at the clock. "Now?"

"We're going to walk around and see a movie first," Jerry explained.

"Ok. Well have fun."

The two of the walked hand in hand out of the shop, and Alex waited till they were out of sight to turn to Justin, who was handing the man his sandwich. He then walked right past her and into the kitchen to clean up. Alex sighed and glanced back at the customer to make sure he wouldn't need anything before following him, pushing past the swinging doors.

"So, Justin, it looks like we'll be alone for a long time," Alex said cheerfully. Justin was at the sink washing dishes. Alex leaned against the counter, but all she got was a small "Hmmm…" from him, and that was it.

"Justin?" Alex poked him in the shoulder again. Justin shrugged.

"Hellooo, anyone home?" Alex poked his head now.

Justin finished drying the plate before turning around. "Go upstairs, Alex, I can close up by myself."

Confused, Alex just nodded and did what he asked, wondering what was wrong with him. She sat on the couch and turned the TV on, looking for a distraction. After about ten minutes, she heard the front door open and Justin walked in. He walked over to where she was sitting and sat beside her on the couch, reaching for the remote to turn off the TV.

"Hey," Alex complained.

"I need to talk to you," Justin said seriously. Alex slowly turned towards him.

"About what?"

"Us."

"Justin, we already talked about that."

"I know, and I've been thinking…"

"But- I don't care! I really don't, I just want-" Alex's rant was cut off by Justin clapping a hand over her mouth to silence her.

"Let me talk," He said, and Alex crossed her arms and glared at him. Justin took a few seconds to collect his thoughts. He already had been thinking about it all afternoon, and he had come to the realization that just using the "this is so wrong" excuse would not work with Alex. If he said they couldn't continue because it was wrong, he knew she would have some kind of argument, and she could most likely persuade him differently. So he was left with no other choice.

"Alex, I'll always love you," He said carefully. "But as a sister. And only, as a sister."

There was a pause, where everything wad deathly quiet as the words sunk in. Justin struggled to keep his face composed as tears welled in her eyes.

"You…don't…want me?" Alex said, her voice a little shaky.

"No."

"Is it…Miranda?"

No, Justin thought. We broke up a long time ago. "I don't know. I just know…it is not you. Sorry."

Alex stood up quickly, and ran up the stairs. It took all his willpower not to turn his head and watch her leave. He heard the door slam, and internally flinched. He wanted to follow her up the stairs. To tell her he'd lied. But instead her forced himself to turn in the opposite direction, and stare blankly at the TV.


	8. Bitterness

**I updated really fast, do I get points for that? Ok maybe not, but that doesn't matter. Thanks to all the readers who have stuck with this story. Here is the next chapter! **

Alex sniffed and threw herself onto her bed before allowing her tears to overtake her. Her whole body shook as she sobbed into her pillow. There was a lump in her throat that couldn't go away. Tears and snot smeared across her face, and mascara ran down her cheeks, but she didn't care. She didn't know if she had ever cared again.

She'd always seen girls cry over guys. She'd seen how much pain they went through. But she doubted none of them knew what it was like to get your heart ripped out. Her heart thudded painfully against her chest, as if it knew what kind of pain she was in.

The worse part of all of this was that she felt so alone.

Even during times where Harper wasn't around, there was always her mother or her father. Sometimes, there was even Justin. But this pain wasn't one she could tell anyone. Not Harper or her parents. She was heartbroken and isolated. And the thought of that sent her into another round of uncontrollable hysterics that she was sure someone would hear. She wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

She felt so miserable. She never knew that there could be so many tears. But they kept coming, soaking her face. On top of her anguish, she was almost angry. Justin had used her. He'd taken her virtue, even. And now he'd just thrown her away.

Wasn't he the one who had said he needed her?

It had been a lie. She had been the one who needed him.

But she would get over him. She must. She could go on in her life, and carry the secret of the one who destroyed her. She could even be cordial to him. To Justin.

Just saying his name hurt a little.

So maybe she wouldn't be nice to him right away. After all, he'd broken her heart.

But she would never let him see that. He would never know. She would carry on like he had never hurt her.

Finally, her sobbing stopped. She lifted her head up, and turned to glance at herself in the mirror.

She looked a mess.

Make-up ran black and smudged across her face. Her hair was stuck to the side of her neck. Tears and snot ran from her eyes to her chin.

Getting up, Alex took a comb and carefully brushed her hair until each strand was smooth. She grabbed a tissue and cleaned her face before applying her make-up perfectly. She smoothed her clothes. Her eyes were still a little puffy, but otherwise no one could ever guess she had been crying.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Alex descended the stairs to find something to eat. She padded across the kitchen and turned on the lights. The TV was turned off and Justin was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, Alex opened the fridge, allowing the blast of cool air to hit her face. She pulled the carton of orange juice and poured herself a glass, which she sipped while staring into the contents of the fridge, trying to decide what to eat.

Just then she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Turning, she saw Justin coming into the kitchen. He glanced at her before picking up his pace and speed-walking to the couch before turning on the TV.

Alex swallowed hard, and shut the fridge door, dumping her juice in the sink. She suddenly wasn't so hungry anymore.

* * *

Justin sat at the kitchen table, his brow furrowed as he tried to complete complicated equation. His pencil scratched against his paper as he wrote out a serious of numbers. It came out to 15.

_That's how old Alex is. _

Justin shook his head and moved on to another problem. He had to stop thinking of her. It was wrong. He had done the right thing. He needed to move on.

But it was hard when the universe seemed to be against him. Everywhere he turned there were little reminders of her.

The next equation used the variable A. Crap.

The doorbell rang, breaking the silence. Justin sighed and happily put down his pencil, glad for the distraction. He got off the stool and opened the door.

Riley stood on the other side.

"Hey, Russo," Riley said. "Is Alex ready?"

"She's-"

"Coming!" Alex bounded down the steps as Justin turned his head to look at her. He cursed silently.

She looked…perfect.

Her hair had been curled to perfection so that they framed her face beautifully. Her lips were a deep cherry red, her eyes framed with light eyeshadow and mascara.

His eyes traveled down to take in her outfit: tight, black jeans and converse, a blue long-sleeved t-shirt and a purple tank top that clung to her body.

Even Riley was impressed as he smiled at her. "Hey, Alex. You look really great."

"Thanks, _Riley._" Alex shot Justin a quick look before kissing Riley straight on the lips. Riley pulled back with a smug grin as he and Alex walked down the hall, holding hands. Justin growled and slammed the door.

"Stupid Riley," Justin said. "He doesn't deserve her. He doesn't love her the way I do…"

Justin returned to his seat, and suddenly a loud farting noise was made. Shocked, Justin leaped off his seat and noticed too late the whoopee cushion on it.

Just then Max rolled out from under the table, laughing hysterically.

"Max! How long have you been there?" Justin demanded.

Max shrugged. "For about ten minutes."

"Did you-" Justin was about to say.

"Did I what?" Max said.

Justin considered him for a second. He didn't look like he knew anything. "Never mind."

"Ok," Max shrugged and walked out of the kitchen. Justin returned to his homework. He glanced briefly at the paper before slamming the book shut. There was no point in trying to concentrate.

"Justin, I have a question," Max said, walking back.

"What is it?"

"Do you and Alex…"Max trailed off. For one painful second Justin felt a pang of fear. Max knew.

"Do you and Alex know what happened to my video game?" Max asked. Justin sighed in relief.

"No, sorry."

"That's bunk, I really want to play it."

"Sorry," Justin said again. He turned to walk away, when Max asked a second question.

"Justin, do you love Alex?"


	9. New Idea

Justin froze. Everything became silent, except for the music coming from the TV. But Justin barely heard that. All he could concentrate were his now sweaty palms and quickening pulse. He swore he could he could hear his own heart pounding.

He turned slowly and stared at Max, who had somehow found a chocolate chip cookie and was in the process of shoving it in his mouth. Justin took a deep breath. It was ok. He could lie. Max would believe anything. Or maybe it would be better to just brush this off and act casual.

"Uhh," He said. "I mean, you love her too, right? She's your sister." Justin started walking away again, but Max followed. When he spoke, his voice was thick from the cookie in his mouth.

"Yeah but," Max swallowed, "I don't kiss her or anything."

Justin cursed silently in his head, and wondered how he was going to cover this up. Surprisingly, Max was not freaking out or accusing him of anything. Maybe telling the truth wouldn't be so bad. He could always bribe Max to keep quiet.

Still, it was hard to think of what to say.

"Well, do you?" Max persisted when he received no answer.

"Uh, I mean, well," Justin stuttered. He glanced over at Max, who seemed extremely calm. He knew Max was a pretty bad liar, so it was clear he wasn't upset or anything. "That doesn't bother you?"

"Well, kissing is kind of gross and I don't really know why you would want to kiss Alex, but no."

"But….you know that it's wrong, right?" Justin said, not really sure why he couldn't just play along with Max's indifference. Maybe he was just desperate to have a second opinion.

Max shrugged. "Kinda."

"And, it still doesn't bother you?" Justin asked, still confused. He would've thought Max would be freaking out or screaming about how he was going to be scarred for the rest of his life.

"I dunno know. I think it's kinda cool."

"Cool?" Justin demanded, shocked now .Since when was something so wrong cool?

"Yeah, well, it's like you have this secret. Like a secret identity. Like a spy." Max shrugged again and wandered towards the kitchen, most likely in search of another cookie.

Justin rolled his eyes. Of course Max would see it like that. "You'll keep it a secret though, right?" Justin said, just to make sure.

"Well, it wouldn't be cool if someone just spilled Spiderman's secret identity," Max said, opening a package of Oreos.

Justin took that to mean a yes.

Still, he felt a little uneasy that someone like Max had already discovered their relationship. Not that it was a relationship anymore. Justin's stomach knotted when he thought about that. Or, more specifically, when he thought about _her_. He closed his eyes and settled back into the chair, trying to ignore the thought of what she looked like. He didn't notice Max was sitting next to him until he said something.

"So-" Max was cut off by Justin screaming in surprise and falling out of the chair. Max peered down at the ground and saw his older brother on the ground.

"Wow, Alex was right, you do scream like a girl," Max commenting, licking the crème off the Oreo.

"I do not!" Justin pulled himself back onto the chair.

Max ate another Oreo before he remembered what he had meant to say. "So, if Alex and you like each other, why is she dating that other guy?"

"We're not together," Justin said, turning back to his homework. He wondered why Max was being so interrogative today.

"But I thought you liked each other."

"But that doesn't mean we will be together."

"Why?"

"Because it's wrong. She's our sister."

"But you like each other."

"Max it's-" Justin sighed and gritted his teeth. "This seriously doesn't bother you?"

"No, I already told you it's like a-"

"Secret spy, yeah I get it," Justin sighed again. "Ok, let's just say that it isn't at all weird that you aren't freaked out by all this. Let's just say I really do like Alex. It's still illegal."

"But if it's a secret know one would find out," Max pointed out.

"Yes, but we can't keep a secret forever."

"Why not?"

"Because-" Justin tried to think of how to explain it so Max would understand. He himself knew why, of course. It was because eventually, He and Alex would have to move on. They would have to act normal. They would be expected to get married. They couldn't harbor this illegal and taboo love for the rest of their lives. "It's just complicated," He said.

"So……use magic?" Max said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Justin blinked, wondering if he had heard right. "What?"

"Well Alex uses magic to fix stuff all the time, why couldn't you use magic for this?"

"Yes, she uses magic all the time and look where it gets her."

"Yeah, but she uses it for bad things. I thought love was a good thing. Isn't that what everybody always says?" Max said, completely serious.

Justin frowned. "I highly doubt there is a spell to make this incest perfectly ok." But he was thinking. There could be a way. A way that a regular person would never think of…

"Ok," Max said, as if the entire conversation had not happened, and hopped off the stool and headed upstairs to his room to most likely look for his lost video game. Justin, however, stayed where he was. He was thinking.

Could there be a way, magically, to solve this?

But even if there was, what kind of spell would he be looking for? One to make everyone forget Alex was his sister?

That was a possibility, but then they would have to invent a whole new identity for her. Plus it would be too much like when Alex had made everyone forget him using a genie.

Or maybe there was a spell to make something illegal legal. Or to make…

Standing, Justin began to pace. Now that Max had said it, it made a little sense. Ok, so using magic without permission was bad. But for this, Justin was willing to bend a few rules. After all, he had already broken a few big ones anyways.

Then he was hit with an idea.

"Doesn't dad have a book with a list of a lot of spells?" He thought to himself. There might be a solution listed there. He looked at the clock. His parents would be working in the shop, so he could sneak into the lair now. But then, that was a little risky. He could always just say he was borrowing a book for homework.

Justin nodded to himself, finally reaching a decision. He would look for a spell. All he needed to do was find the book. He could do this. Research was his thing.

* * *

Justin winced as the floor beneath him creaked on his way to the bookshelf. He had forgotten about how loud everything seemed when everything else was completely silent. He tip-toed as quietly as possible to the row of books, and began to search for a title.

It would be so much easier if he knew what he was looking for.

Given, he did sort of have an agenda. He was supposed to look for the big book of spells. But he was also hoping there would be other books that would help as well.

Squinting, he tilted his head to the side as he tried to read the print on the spines. Some books had titles written in miniscule font, while a few used long words even he hadn't heard of head. It would take forever to find a solution. But he wouldn't stop trying. If he could find a way to make his love for Alex right, then there was no reason they couldn't be together. They could have a real, open relationship. They wouldn't have to feel ashamed for what they were doing.

But first he would actually have to find a way to make that happen.

His eyes glazed over after he searched the first row, and he shook his head. He had to focus. His eyes skimmed over a few titles.

_The Guide to Wizard Physics _

_Household Magic _

_Cauldrons for Dummies_

_Pranks _

_Magic Cooking Guide _

No, these wouldn't work. Justin began to search on the third row. He paused at one large, black book with gold lettering. It wasn't the book of spells, but it was titled _Romance for Wizards_, so maybe there was something. He pulled it out and placed it gently on the table behind him before continuing his search. He found several other promising titles, and he pulled them off the shelf and stacked them by priority. Still, when he reached the end of the bookshelf, he still hadn't found the book of spells that he needed. He pulled away from the shelf and wandered towards the other stack of books, but those were all for homework assignments. He then began to look around the room, wondering where his dad would keep the book.

He glanced at the clock, and began to panic when he realized how long he had been down here. He grabbed the books he had picked out and heaved them up, staggering at the weight. He couldn't believe how heavy they were. Maybe he should start working out. A couple of push-ups couldn't hurt.

Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a footstep. Justin inwardly groaned. How many more problems was he going to have today? He shifted the weight of books in his hands, and began to take a deep breath, prepared to lie to whoever had come into the lair.

"What are you doing here?" A familiar voice said. Justin jumped when he realized who the voice belonged to, and all the books tumbled to the floor. He winced when one of them hit his foot.

"Hi, Alex," Justin said, before ducking down to gather up the books. He heard Alex sigh, and she bent down to help him. She grabbed one of the books, and was about to hand it to him when she read the title.

"_Romance for wizards_?" Alex said, and he could hear the sarcasm beginning to drip into her voice. "Are you desperate or something?"

"Did you come back from your date?" Justin asked, slightly irritated that he had been caught from the person he had least expected.

Alex nodded. "Yeah I did." There was a small pause. "So, what are you doing down here with," She handed him the book, "Looking for romance books?"

"I…can explain," Justin said. There was something about the glare she was giving him that made him nervous.

"Ok," Alex said, brushing by him (causing him to stumble a little) and sat down on the couch, crossing her arms and legs. "You have thirty seconds. Start explaining."

**I think this was a little longer. I did do my best to edit this. I actually wrote this piece a long time ago (when I was figuring out the plot) which why there is another fast update. I will do my best to make updates faster than they have been, but this will probably the last chapter that will be posted within a day of the previous one. **

**Anyways, hoped you liked it, reviews are appreciated, and thanks for reading it. **


	10. Explanations

Alex sat, her eyebrow arched slightly as she waited for Justin to make his move. Justin shifted uncomfortable for a couple of awkward beats, before finally moving forward and settling onto the couch. He expected Alex to move away from him, but she stayed rooted to where she was, still waiting.

Justin nervously ran a hand through his hair as he tried to compose his thoughts. He wasn't quite sure how Alex was feeling right now. If she was really mad, maybe an apology would work. But then, she might just get bored or sarcastic and leave before he could tell her an explanation. And secondly, _how_ exactly was he going to explain? There were so many things he had to say, and he wasn't exactly sure where to start. He supposed that maybe it would be best if he just started talking. He took a deep breath.

"Well, you see," He said, and cleared his throat. "Today I was talking with Max, well, I guess he found out about us-"He looked for a reaction, but Alex was still scarily composed, "And he asked if I was in love with you, and-"

"And what did you say?" Alex interrupted him.

Justin looked at his hands, which were starting to sweat again. What should he say? Should he lie again? "I said I liked you," He admitted shakily.

A look of complete shock crossed Alex's face. "Why…why would you tell him that?"

"He was surprisingly cool about it," Justin said. "It was weird. He thought it was like we were this really cool secret thing. He won't tell anybody about it, so don't worry."

"No," Alex corrected him. "Why would you tell him you liked me when you told me you didn't?"

There was another silence as the words sunk in. For the first time since that night, Justin allowed himself to see how badly he had crushed her. He hadn't let himself think about that, it was too painful to think he was capable of putting someone in that kind of pain. But now he couldn't hide from it. Even now, he could see the hurt on her face. Regret twisted in his stomach.

"I'm sorry," He said, his voice coming out like a whisper.

Alex scowled. "I know that. You already told me you were sorry."

"No I mean," Justin broke off. "I mean…that…I'm sorry I hurt you. And I'm sorry that I did what I did. And I'm sorry I li-" He was cut off by the sound of someone opening the door.

Quickly, he and Alex jumped off the couch. They looked at each other, sharing panicked expressions before Alex mouthed the word "Hide!" and pointed to underneath the couch.

"What? Why me?" Justin hissed as he began to hear footsteps.

"Because you're the older brother!"

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Well, I'm the better liar, so go!" Alex shoved him a little to get her point across. There was no time to really think, he just did what she asked and quickly ducked down and crawled under the couch. He wrinkled his nose a little. It smelled horrible.

The couch sank a little closer to his head when Alex sat down, pulling a book quickly on her lap and opening it to a random page. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ears and pretended to move her eyes across the page as their dad finally appeared in the lair.

"Alex!" Jerry sounded shocked, but thankfully, not yet suspicious.

"Oh, hi Daddy," Alex said cheerfully, smiling at him. Jerry frowned. Now he was suspicious.

"Alex, what are you doing?" Jerry asked. Alex still was smiling.

"Oh, you know," She gestured towards the book, "Reading. Uh, you know, about wizard fashions." Alex rolled her eyes. "It's very important for a girl to know these things."

Jerry looked at her for a couple of seconds but decided to buy her story. He walked over to the counter and began to adjust the potions on a rack. "Well, I guess we'll have lessons in about an hour," He said, and glanced at his daughter again. Alex ignored the look and focused on the page intently.

Jerry sighed and then moved to the chalkboard to write an illustration about the proper use of a spell they would be learning soon, and then began to walk out the door. He turned to look back at Alex one more time. "Whatever it is you are looking at, I'm not paying for it." And he left the room.

Underneath the couch, Justin sneezed.

"Bless you, honey!" Jerry called, and shut the door to the lair. Alex let out a sigh of relief for not getting caught, and she sat up from the couch.

"You can get out now," She informed Justin. He rolled out from under the couch and stood up, brushing dust from his clothes.

Alex returned to her seat, and Justin joined her. There was another whole minute of silence.

"So," Alex said, staring at her hands. She no longer seemed as angry, just curious. "What were you saying before?"

It took a moment for Justin to continue. "I …was saying that I was really sorry," He said softly. "I lied to you."

"You lied about liking me?" Alex asked. Justin nodded. "But why?"

"Because."

"Because why?" She insisted.

"Because being an 'us' was wrong," Justin said, and held his hand up when she opened her mouth to protest. "I know. It's just, I realized that we couldn't be together forever, and I just-"

"But what about now?" Alex demanded. "Why couldn't we be together now?"

"I saw you and Riley together," Justin said, "And I realized then that you should have the right. The right to choose. The right to be able to go on dates and not have to worry about being a cheater. The rights to one day get married, and not have to worry about my feelings, or feel like you have to cheat on them to be with me. And I-" Justin took a deep breath, and then continued his speech. "And I have no right to keep you from it."

"So you lied?" Alex repeated.

"Yes, and I'm sorry, and-"

"You could've told me the truth." Alex interrupted another one of his speeches.

"Would you have moved on if I did?" Justin pointed out.

"Maybe," Alex said. "But you really…" She was still looking at her hands, and she was tapping them against her knees. She had a hard time spilling her emotions to him. But she did anyways. "You hurt me. A lot."

"I'm sorry," He said, for what seemed like the thousandth time. But it was all he could say.

"I know, I know," She said, and she was silent for a moment, thinking. "Ok, so we got to the part where you lied to me…" Justin winced when he sensed the bitterness in her words. "So there is one missing piece. Why are you here, looking at books?" She paused. "Well, why are you looking at_ these_ books?"

Justin picked up a red one titled _Solving Love Problems_, and placed it on his lap.

"Well, like I said, I was talking to Max today and he gave me this idea."

"You got an idea form Max?" Alex half laughed. "What a good plan."

"Actually, it was," Justin said. He could tell some kind of sarcastic comment was on the way, so he finished quickly. "He suggested we find a magic solution to somehow make it ok for us to be together."

Alex looked shocked again. "Really?" She said. "That's….wow." She swallowed. "You were…looking for ideas…to help _us_?"

"Yeah."

"Justin that is so," Alex paused, looking for the right word. "Sweet. And kind of like me. I'm rubbing off on you aren't I?" She half smiled and looked at him, and he could tell she was kind of touched. Then to his surprise her arms were suddenly locked around his neck and her mouth was on his. For a second he couldn't respond, his brain desperately trying to catch up. But then he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, unable to believe he had managed to convince himself that it was better to be without her.

He heard her sigh happily, and she pulled away to rest her head on his shoulder. For a minute, they just held each other, absorbing the happiness after the past few days of pain.

"I want to help," She finally said. Justin just nodded and she kissed him again. Both of them were completely focused on each other. For once, Justin wasn't screaming _NO! This is wrong!_ But instead his brain had seemed to shut down completely, and all he could do was kiss her back. Eventually they pulled apart when they ran out of breath. Justin looked down to smile at her. And he hardly registered that he could now look at her without feeling regret.

"So," Alex said after she was finally able to concentrate again. "What kind of spell are we looking for?"

"I'm not sure yet," Justin said. "I was thinking it would be in one of these-" He gestured towards the pile of books. "Or in that book of spells Dad has."

Alex looked at the pile and groaned. "That is a lot of reading."

Justin just rolled his eyes. "Well, it's all we have, so we better use it."

Alex sighed dramatically. Then she glanced at the clock. "Class starts in ten minutes. We don't have time."

"We'll have to do it tonight," Justin said. Alex nodded.

"And we'll need that book of spells," He added.

Alex bit her lip. "How about you read those-" She pointed to the books. "And I convince Dad to give us the book?"

"And if he doesn't?"

"Plan B. We find it on our own."

"Fine," Justin said. Then he stopped. "Wait. You just stuck me with all the hard work."

"Yeah, but you're better at it," Alex leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. Justin seemed slightly happier.

"Fine I'll do it. But only if that isn't on the cheek next time," Justin said. Alex rolled her eyes.

"Boys," She muttered. "Are all the same. Even when they're your brother." But she smiled. "I hope we find something."

"We will," Justin reassured her. "We have to."

**Ok I lied when I said that last chapter would be the last one to get posted within a day. But I actually found this piece sitting in another document and stuff happened today that actually gave me a lot of time to work on it (it's like the universe wants me finish). Sorry if the characters are a little OOC, but I do feel I need to adjust them a little to make the story fit. I will keep them as close to their characters as possible though. And as I said in the previous chapter, don't expect daily updates. This chapter is just a bonus. But I will definitely be posting a lot faster now that I've got the story rolling. **


	11. Fairytale

Alex blew on a strand of hair that was dangling in front of her face. She watched as the hair swung away and back towards her nose. She sighed and shoved the dark strand behind her ear before pulling it our again and twirling it around her finger.

Thankfully, the hand on the clock shifted to one, and the bell rang, ending the most boring day of history ever. Standing, Alex pulled her bag over her shoulder before shifting her binders in her hand. Her load had been heavier now that she had been bringing the book of spells to school. She knew her Dad would kill her if he knew what she was doing with the book, but she had no choice. She was desperate to find a spell, and the book was huge.

She had though actually acquiring the book from her Dad would have been the biggest challenge. But when she had actually opened it, she had taken one look at the size 2 print and the list of single-spaced spells that went on for hundreds of pages, and wanted to vomit. Reading and research was so not her thing. But if Justin was right, and there was a spell out there that could help, she was going to do whatever it takes to find it. Even if it meant staying up late to read every single spell, or bringing it to school to read during study hall. They had to find something.

When Alex reached the classroom of her study hall, she immediately went to the back corner of the room, where she knew she wouldn't be bothered. She waited until the teacher had taken a head count, and all the other students had opened a book to read or laid their head down to sleep before carefully pulling the old book down and placing it on her desk quickly before anyone would notice the title. She pulled the book open and slid out her bookmark, which was a piece of paper where she would write any potential spells on. Then she squinted at the text, and once more struggled to decipher the words on the page.

At the front of the room, the clock kept ticking in a loud, annoying way. Alex bit her lip and kept reading, her pencil tapping against the desk.

She yawned, and checked the time. The hand had only moved a fraction. She sighed and returned her eyes to the page, but her mind was elsewhere. For some reason, she couldn't concentrate. It was probably from staying up so late to read. Justin was in the same shape. He stayed in his room, pouring over all the other books, searching for an answer.

Alex yawned again. She looked at her list of spells that she had already written down, and contemplated which one might work best. All of them seemed risky.

Alex looked down at the book again, going through the same page, wondering if she had missed anything. Who knew reading was so hard? She had no idea why Justin liked it.

She wondered what her Dad would think if he knew the real reason she and Justin were suddenly so invested in magic. They had tried to be discreet about their research, but she still wondered if anyone was curious as to why she was so interested. She hoped no one had.

Her mind wandered again, back to when she had asked for the book. If only finding a spell had been that simple.

_"So Dad," Alex said as casually as possibly when she stepped into the kitchen. She returned the plate with sandwich crumbs to the sink before continuing. "I was wondering, do you love Justin more than me?" _

_She quickly pulled on a puppy dog face when Jerry turned around. _

_"What? No, of course not honey, you'll always be my little girl, you know that." _

_"But see, that's the problem. If I'm always your little girl I'll never be prepared." _

_"Prepared? For what?" _

_"For the Wizarding Competition," Alex said. _

_"Shh!" Jerry quickly peeked through the window to see if any of the customers had overheard. Satisfied that none of them had, he turned back to his daughter. "Alex, you'll be prepared." _

_"But you never teach me stuff like you teach Justin," Alex said, still pulling a sad face. _

_"I taught you how to fly a carpet," Jerry said as quietly as possible. _

_"Yeah, but you teach Justin millions of stuff." _

_"Like what?"_

_"I don't know, I'm not there when you do." _

_Jerry sighed and looked at his daughter once more. He must have accepted her miserable expression to be sincere, because he sighed again in resignation. "What do you want me to teach you that you think would put you on par with your brother?" _

_"Um, I don't know…" Alex pretended to think for a minute. "Maybe….you could give me…the book of spells?" _

_"The what!" Jerry hissed, shocked. "Alex I don't know if you're ready for that." _

_"But how do you know that?" _

_"You never pay attention during the lessons." _

_"But that does because I know there's no point in trying because Justin is so well taught I'll never have a chance anyways!" _

_"I-" Jerry broke off, and realized he had just been backed into a corner. He could just say no, and leave the whole matter be, but Alex did look really upset by the whole thing. And besides, she was finally taking an interest in magic, which was a plus. _

_"Fine," Jerry said, and Alex fought the triumphant smile off her face. "But every week you have to show me a new spell you have learned from that book." _

_"Um, Ok," Alex said, and walked out of the kitchen, a huge grin on her face. _

Alex heard someone clear their throat. Jumping up, she quickly slapped a hand over the book so no one could read the spells on the page, and looked up into the eyes of the most ancient teacher ever.

"Um, hi," Alex said.

"You might want to wipe off that drool," The teacher said. Alex blushed and quickly raised her sleeve to her mouth.

Then she glanced at the clock, and realized that the period had ended five minutes ago, and there was a whole new class waiting at the door.

"You dozed off in study hall," The teacher explained in a tired voice. "Whatever your project was it must have been…compelling." With that she turned, her heels squeaking against the floor, and walked to her desk. Alex quickly shoved the book in her bag and gathered her things before walking out.

* * *

Justin ran a hand through his hair as he tried to read the page he was on. It was his third book in the research, and he only had about two possible spells. He glanced nervously around the room again before returning to the page.

Unlike Alex, he was completely uncomfortable with bringing these books to school. Although the kids in his study hall were very unlikely to question him, he still didn't like it.

He never liked study hall up until this point. He always thought it was a waste, when he could be taking another academics class. But now he was grateful for the extra time to look at spells.

He turned the page, but there really was nothing in this novel. The next chapter was some odd romance story that was some kind of wizard legend. It was the Romeo and Juliet to the Wizarding world, minus the whole family enemies and everyone dies thing. But it was famous like Romeo and Juliet, only instead the names of the characters were Carla and some prince, who was just called Prince. Lame.

It was a story that most kids learned when they were young, and never bothered with again.

But he was somehow pulled into this story, and although he should have skipped it and moved on.

It was about two people in love, but it was a secret. One of them was a Prince, one a commoner. They would do whatever it took to be together. The tragedy of the story was that one day, Carla woke up to find that the Prince was no longer, and no one remembered who he was but her. She looked for him for the rest of her life, and she died alone. What she didn't know was that the prince had ended up being turned into a farmer boy, but in a different country. He eventually saved enough money to return home, but Carla had moved on.

Justin almost laughed at himself when he finished the ending, unable to believe he had been so interested in it. He shut the book and quickly put it back in his bag so no one would notice what it was.

He wished he had brought more books to search through. It looked like he would be staying up late again.

Sighing, he leaned back in his chair. Hopefully, find a solution soon. It was driving him crazy.

Then he noticed that Riley was sitting at the other end of the room. He had never noticed that they shared the same study hall. Justin glared at his back for a minute before Riley felt his gaze and glanced back. Justin moved his head to look like he was just spacing out. Riley shrugged and turned back, and Justin glared again.

Oh yeah. He was definitely staying up late tonight.

**So here you go, another chapter. If you're wondering about the name Carla, it's the name of this kid I know who somehow wanted to be in the story (she's too young to read it anyways, but she'll appreciate the name). Anyways reviews appreciated and thanks for reading! **


	12. Hope

"JUSTIN! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" Theresa's voice rang through the house. Justin woke up with a start, knocking off the book that was lying on his chest. He struggled out of bed, kicking off sheets and blankets before falling with a thud to the floor. Papers scattered around him like snow, littering the carpet. He tried to pull himself up, and knocked over another book. He then managed to get to his feet, and proceeded to run around the room trying to get dressed. He hopped up and down in an attempt to put his pants on, but slipped and fell again on yet another book. He sighed and quickly gathered up all the books and papers and shoved them under his bed before running downstairs.

Alex and Max were already at the door, school books in hand. Theresa just rolled her eyes and tossed him a cereal bar. Alex raised her eyebrows when she saw him. "Nice," was all he said. He stuck his tongue out at her and when they turned to leave he slipped her a note. Alex rolled it in her palm before tucking it in her back pocket. She couldn't wait to read it in study hall.

* * *

"And so then the invasion started numerous economic issues in the country and…"

Alex yawned heavily and stretched her arms above her head as the ancient teacher stood at the front of the class, reciting the basic events of the chapter off the top of his head. He'd been around so long; he had most likely lived through most of this stuff.

Mr. White was the typical image of a history teacher: wispy white, gray hair, pale wrinkled skin dotted with brown, and tired gray eyes that peered out behind tiny spectacles and a large, straight noise. Most of his wardrobe included the same white or black dress pants (one time he had been daring and worn tan), with either a brown or blue sweater over a pristine white collared t-shirt. His voice sounded like he was completely bored with life, he knew that his teachings would never have an effect on his students, and always remained the same monotonous note. He never yelled, but he never had to. Most students usually just slept in his class.

Alex was currently blinking back the urge to just sleep as well. But these days, Alex had actually but staying awake in her classes. She still wasn't learning anything but still, it was a start. She glanced around the class and noticed that the boy next to her was snoring softly, and the girl on her right was staring blankly at the wall in front of her, clearly spacing out. Now was the perfect time to get some work done.

She didn't bother to be subtle when she hefted the large volume onto her desk and flipped to the page where she left off, and quickly waved her hand in the air, brushing away the heavy dust. She looked at Mr. White, but he was continuing on as if nothing had happened, which she had expected. Alex took a pen out of her bag and began reading and jotting down spells as usual.

_Hmmm, would the change-your-face spell work? _Alex wrote it down anyway. She sighed and tried to think of how that could work. Maybe she could fake her death or something and then run away and change what she looked like. A little over-dramatic. And she really would never want to hurt her family that way.

She wondered if Justin had found anything. They had been researching for a week now, but so far they hadn't had time to meet up and discuss a plan. A plan was what they needed right now though. She wanted to be with him. She had to be with him, and she was anxious for it to finally happen.

She returned her eyes to the page, bit her lip, and continued. Her mind began to wander again, though. What if they didn't find anything? They would be stuck going on with their lives as if they never cared about each other. She wanted to cry at that idea.

* * *

Riley wandered through the crowded hallway. The bell had just rung, and students were shoving past each other to get to their lockers. Some nerd had his books scattered across the floor, and he was dodging people in an attempt to clean up all of his stuff. Riley stepped around him and continued to his destination.

He finally made it to Harper's locker. He carefully took a deep breath to control is face, like he always had to when he saw Alex's best friend. Since she was friends with Alex, he knew he had to be civil. This was hard when she was always wearing ridiculous outfits. Today it was a licorice necklace, a headband made out of m&ms, and chocolate colored pants. He worked up a friendly smile anyways.

"Hey Harper," He said smoothly, leaning against the locker as she grabbed her last book. The girl was instantly startled, and she almost dropped everything she was holding.

"Oh, Hi Riley," She squeaked, clearly surprised. She appeared instantly nervous and anxious. Riley wondered if she secretly had a crush on him. It was kind of cute, but of course he would remain loyal to Alex.

"What do you want?" Harper asked, finally calming down.

"Well, you seem to know Alex pretty well," Riley said. Harper just nodded. "And I was wondering if you have noticed anything weird about her lately.

Harper had noticed, but she wondered if she should say anything. If Alex wasn't telling her what was up, then she probably didn't want Riley to know. Or maybe, it was something really bad, and they should both be concerned with helping her out? Harper weighed the choices in her mind.

"Well, yeah, I've noticed something," Harper said, keeping her voice neutral.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?"

"Uhh.." Harper shook her head. "No, sorry." She slammed her locker shut and walked off. She would now have to sprint to make it to her class on time. Riley sighed. _Well that was a waste of time._

He was curious as to what it was. Hopefully she wasn't breaking up with him, but he really didn't see as to why she would. Things had been going great.

He decided either way, it was best to find out. Pulling out his phone, he quickly texted an invitation to see a movie. The late bell rang again, and he jumped. He was late to class, but it was just a study hall so he wasn't overly worried. He quickly made it to his class. The teacher just nodded and checked off his name, and he took his seat. His phone vibrated, and he pulled it out. It was Alex, confirming that she was free to go to the movie. Smiling, Riley put his phone back and slouched in his chair. He was finally going to find out just what was bothering his girlfriend.

* * *

Alex made it to the house, setting down her heavy load of spell books and school books. She rotated her shoulder, and felt as if her arm had gone numb. She yawned, and felt completely drained. She wandered over to the couch with the half formed idea to take a nap, and sat down.

She quickly leaped up as the person shouted "OW!"

Justin scrambled up from the couch while Alex just took the moment in and became to laugh hysterically. "You just sat on me!"

"I-" She broke off to laugh. "Didn't…see… you there!" She doubled over, a large cramp in her side but she kept laughing.

Justin stared at her. "Are you ok?"

Alex controlled herself. "Yeah, I'm good." She sat on the couch next to Justin, drawing her knees up to her chin.

"Well, did you get my note?" Justin sounded odd, almost anxious and excited.

"What?"

Justin sighed. "The note I gave you this morning."

"Oh!" Now Alex remembered. She had meant to read it earlier but had forgotten.

"So you remember?"

"Yeah?"

"And you remember what it said?"

Alex wondered why Justin was so persistent. "Uh, no. I meant I remember you giving it to me. I forgot to read it. Sorry."

Justin actually slapped his forehead. Alex would have laughed if she didn't feel so drained again. She yawned and began to drift off.

Justin shook her shoulder. "Um, Alex, stay awake I need to tell you what was in the note."

Alex blinked her eyes and stifled another yawn. "Ok." She shifted and reached into her pocket to pull out the piece of paper. She unfolded it slowly to tease him, and smoothed the creases in the paper. Justin looked at her expectantly.

Alex read the note once, then twice. At first she was confused, and then in disbelief, and then completely happy.

_Alex- I found the spell._

"You found it!" Alex smiled. "Yes!" She threw her arms around Justin and kissed him happily before pulling back. Justin returned her happy expression. "Yup."

"I can't believe it! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did!" He gestured towards the note. "But you _forgot_ to read that."

"Oh." Alex was silent for a minute. Then she became excited all over again. "Ok, tell me, what is it? How does it work? How did you find it?"

"It's a long story. But it all started in study ha-" He was broken off by the door opening.

"Justin? Alex? It's really busy at the shop right now we could use your help," Theresa poked her head in. She frowned at the two of them. "What's going on? Did something good happen at school?"

Justin and Alex looked at each other. "Uh, sure. Yeah."

"Well you'll have to tell me at dinner. Come on, we're swamped."Theresa pulled the door opened and waited for her two children to scramble up and follow her.

"I'll tell you later," Justin whispered. Alex nodded, and for the first time in a long time, felt complete hope fill her. She couldn't wait.


	13. The Spell

Alex sat on her bed, eyes concentrating on the ceiling above her as she silently waited for her parents to go to bed. She tried to relax and breathe evenly. But every time she finally got settles down she would remember that Justin had found a spell, and her heart would speed up and she would struggle to contain her excitement. She wondered what kind of spell it was. Maybe it was one she had already listed.

Rolling over, she picked up the list carefully folded under her pillow and walked to the window. She leaned against the sill and squinted at her writing, trying to use the pale moonlight to read.

After a couple of minutes she sighed and gave up. It was too frustrating. Tucking the paper back in its place and returned to lying on her back. She wondered what it would be like to finally be with Justin. To finally walk into school, or to come home and she would be able to say to her friends and family that this was the guy she liked.

She wondered if any other girl had ever been in her position. If any other person out there had ever been in love with someone, but knew that it was so completely wrong that at the same time they felt ashamed of what they were doing. But she also knew it didn't matter. She loved who she loved, and when Justin finally revealed the spell to her, it would no longer be wrong. They could be together without the bounds of society. It wouldn't be disgusting. It would be right.

It wasn't until the red numbers on her clock clicked to 10:03 that she finally heard what she had been waiting for: The shuffling around, the clicking off of the TV, and the muffled footsteps of two people walking upstairs.

Alex shot straight up in her bed, and held her breath as she heard the distinct sound of a door closing.

Climbing out of bed, Alex smoothed her now ruffled hair and tugged on her pajamas. She fumbled around for her wand, which she kept in the nightstand top shelf. When she finally pulled it out, she tucked it carefully in her pocket and waited a couple of minutes, hoping she hadn't disturbed anyone.

The house remained silent, almost empty. It was the exact opposite as to what Alex was feeling. Anticipation filled her, and she was almost shaking with it.

She tip-toed across her bedroom floor and carefully pulled the door open and checked the hallway left and right. Nothing stirred.

She pulled her door open wider and stepped out, shutting it slowly behind her. She flinched when it clicked close, the sound magnified in the silence. Still seeing everyone was asleep, she crept as quickly as possible to Justin's door. Then she turned the knob and cautiously opened it and peered inside.

"Justin?" She whispered. She heard him move around, and then the lamp on the far left clicked on.

Alex blinked at the dim light, and saw her brother sitting cross-legged on his bed, a book open before him, and his wand to its right. Papers filled with crammed handwriting were scattered around him, but she saw a small spot for her to sit across from.

It wasn't until she was seated that Justin spoke. "Hi."

"Hi," Alex said, suddenly nervous.

There was a silent beat as Justin figured out how to start. He cleared his throat and pushed back his sleeves, clearly ready to begin a long story. Alex rolled her eyes and settled back, prepared.

"So," Justin said. "I was sitting in study hall."

"Where you found the spell?"

"Just listen," Justin said. "Anyways, I came across this," He pointed to the page. Alex leaned forward and snorted. "A fairytale? You found some fantasy story?" Alex just shook her head. "I'm not surprised. This is the guy you loves comic books and dolls."

"Action figures!" Justin insisted. "And anyways, I told you not to interrupt!"

"Ok, ok," Alex said. "Tell me how this has to do with anything."

"Do you remember how the story goes?"

Alex rolled her eyes again. "Of course, Mom used to read it to me every night."

"So what happens?" Justin asked.

"Sorry I didn't know I would be getting a pop quiz."

"Well?"

"She falls in love with this guy, then somehow the guy disappears and becomes some farmer somewhere and then she dies or something and it's very sad," Alex said. "Of course when I was five Mom edited it so that they found each other again."

"Exactly," Justin said. There was another pause, but he did not elaborate.

"Ok Justin what is this spell!" Alex hissed, getting impatient. She wanted to be with Justin, not discussing some lame tragedy.

"The answers in the story," Justin said.

"Oh great, that makes me feel so much better," Alex said.

"Not the ending," Justin corrected.

"Just tell me!"

"There's more to the story than what they tell you," Justin said. "The prince had a younger, power hungry brother. He wanted to be king, but since he wasn't the first born that wasn't going to happen."

A strange sensation crept into Alex's stomach. It was like her instincts knew what the answer was before she did.

"So, he sought the help of a wizard. This wizard was evil," Justin half smiled. "Actually, he might be related to Professor Evilini."

"So you're saying this story actually happened?"

"Parts of it, yes."

"Ok so what did the wizard do?"

"Well, the younger brother struck a deal with him. He would give him a high position of power if he helped him become king. So the wizard agreed."

"And how did he help?" Alex's stomach was now in knots.

"He got rid of his older brother, and made it so no one ever remembered he was ever related to the royal family."

Alex's eyes widened as Justin flipped to a different page. Right there, in strange, black text, was a strange spell she had never heard of before. Below it, in tiny, unreadable words, were what she thought were warnings.

"What kind of spell is this."

"A bad kind," Justin said quietly. "It's black magic."

"What?" Alex found it hard to believe that someone like her brother would ever consider using _black _magic.

"Alex, this spell has the power to loosen the bonds of two family members, and make it so that person is no longer a part of where they came from. That's evil. That's why it's black magic."

"But we're not-" Alex swallowed. "We're doing this for love. Doesn't that make it not bad?"

"That's the only reason why I think we should do it," Justin said. "I think if we're not doing it to hurt someone else, I don't think it can be that bad."

"We're not hurting anyone, right?"

"Of course not," Justin seemed a little angry about that. "If anything, we might hurt ourselves."

"How?"

"Because, we're the ones using a bad spell. If we're not careful, things can go wrong."

"Well, it's worth the risk, right?" Alex said.

"Definitely."

"Wait," Alex frowned, noticing a loophole. "If one of us becomes not a Russo and everyone forgets that, won't whoever is still in the family forget?"

"No. The people who are involved in the spell will remember what happened." Justin shut the book, but not before marking it with a piece of paper. "Of course, we also won't be able to tell where the other person will end up, so the person still in the family would have to do some tracking. And they would have to somehow figure out how to bring this person back."

"We can do it," Alex said.

Justin nodded. "It's going to be hard of course."

Alex nodded. But despite whatever happened, she was still hopeful. Sometime, she and Justin were going to be alright.

But right now, she didn't want to think about that.

Pushing the book to the side, Alex leaned forward to wrap her arms around Justin's neck. She pulled him forward and kissed him. He tugged her closer, and they both broke away for air. Then they leaned in again. They paused once or twice to see if they were being too loud, but they went unnoticed. Somehow, they ended up shifting, Alex pushing Justin back. They still continued to kiss.

It was different than the first time, when there had been shame at what they had been doing. Now, everything had changed.

* * *

Alex woke up around four in the morning. At first she was disoriented, her mind was foggy. Then memories of what had happened came back, and she gasped.

She felt Justin jerk awake. "Huh? What?" He said. Alex grinned and lifted her head off his chest. "Nothing."

"Oh," He said, and drifted off back to sleep. Alex extracted herself from his arms and the sheets, and she quietly pulled her pajamas on. She glanced once back at him, then headed towards the door. She stumbled over the book. Somehow during the night it had fallen on the floor. She kicked it under his bed before continuing on to her bedroom.

When she finally made it, she set her alarm and curled up in a ball. She was tired, but her mind kept going over the spell. Black magic, bad, complications. All these words buzzed around her head like flies, unable to stop from annoying her. She squeezed her eyes shot, and tried to make the words go away by whispering her own, her voice muffled by her pillow.

"Please work," She pleaded. She wasn't exactly sure to you, but her stomach had that same uncomfortable knot like it had before.

At last, the words went away, and she was able to sleep.

**So sorry it's a little short, but this seemed like a good place to end it. Thanks to all my reviewers and those who have favorite this story and put it on alert. I appreciate all of you, even if I can't reply to you all! **


	14. Consequences

Everything was dark.

She couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't feel. All she knew was that everything was empty, like being inside a box. She couldn't move, and instead stood there, desperately trying to process what was happening but at the same time she didn't want to know. She opened her mouth, but found she couldn't speak.

She felt a small pain in her stomach, like it was curling tightly into a knot. She moved wrap her arms around herself for comfort. The movement was too fast, and suddenly she was incredibly dizzy. She fell to the ground, gasping and crying for reasons she didn't quite know. She just felt so alone, like she had been abandoned. She knew that it wasn't true, that somewhere in the back of her mind she knew there was some reason that this darkness and pain shouldn't be here, but she didn't have the strength to try and remember. All she could do was curl into a ball and let the misery take her. Everything, everyone, was gone. Even her memories were gone. She couldn't remember who she was, or what was happening, or even how she had gotten here.

She shuddered as a painful sob racked through her body. She couldn't stop, and her lungs hurt from all the crying but she kept going. Tears soaked her face and ran down to her neck. She wanted it to end, but at the same time she didn't know what exactly it was.

She was trapped in this vortex of unknowing, with no way out, and she felt helpless. All that she was capable of was lying there.

* * *

Gasping, Alex sat upright so fast that she suffered from a brief head rush. Disoriented, and twisted and turned around in her bed. Where was she? What was happening? The darkness was here again and she couldn't stop it…

"Shhh Alex it's just me," A kind voice whispered. Alex let out a sob and pressed her face into her pillow, tears leaking from her eyes.

Arms wrapped around her, and she turned to press her face against his chest. He rested his head on hers and stroked her hair.

"What's going on?" A sleepy voice asked. Light flooded the room. Justin looked up to see Theresa standing in the doorway.

"She had a bad dream."

"Oh, honey." Theresa moved forward and Justin stepped back to let her comfort Alex. "It's ok sweetie it's not real," She murmured.

"I know," Alex sniffled.

"Did you eat a lot of sugar before going to bed?"

"…yeah," Alex said, rather than giving away the real answer for her nightmare.

"It's ok," Theresa said. "You'll be fine."

Alex cleared her throat. "Yeah."

Theresa laid her daughter back on the bed and pulled the covers up before kissing her forehead and walking softly out of the room. When she was gone, Justin returned to her side.

"You're going to be ok, right?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"You still want to do the spell?"

Alex just looked at him. "Of course."

Justin nodded and he kissed her on the forehead too before leaving her room. There was a second of silence before he came back. "Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." Alex agreed, and fell back asleep as Justin shut the door gently behind him.

* * *

Alex sighed and took a deep breath before lighting the third candle in the corner of the room. The other two lay on opposite sides of where Justin was sitting, his head bent over the book, his brows furrowed. There was an eerie glow to the room and dark shadows that stretched across the walls. A feeling a nausea rolled through her stomach as she watched Justin mumble the spell to himself, as if by memorizing the words on the page it would make everything easier. She closed her eyes, and counted to five in her head. When she opened them again, she was ready.

She seated herself directly across from Justin. He didn't glance up at her, and kept looking at the page, a worried expression on his face as he began flipping through the page. Alex fiddled with her necklace nervously. Every second Justin was hesitating, it made things worse.

"What is it?" She finally demanded. Her voice sounded a little too loud in the silence. Justin looked up at her, harsh shadows crossing his face.

"Nothing," He said. "It's too late to back out now, I'm just over thinking this."

"What are you talking about?"

"There's just so many warnings," Justin said, tapping the page of the book. Alex would have looked, but she was too afraid of what she would see that it overrode her curiosity. Instead she tried to push away her fear.

"It doesn't matter," She said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "We're doing this."

Justin just nodded, and shut the book. The sound echoed with a strong sense of finality. He set it aside, outside the ring of candles, before pulling his wand out from his pocket. Alex grabbed hers.

Justin inhaled sharply. "You ready."

Alex swallowed. "Yeah."

"You sure?"

"Justin."

"I know, I know," Justin said. "I'll just feel guilty if this goes wrong."

"Please don't think about it," Alex said. "Just do it."

"You're asking me to risk your life," Justin snapped. "Give me a second here."

"We could be endangering yours too," Alex pointed out.

"Somehow that's not helping."

"It's ok. I'll be fine. I'm a capable wizard."

Justin sighed, and the candles flickered. "Ok."

"Ok."

"Lets do this."

"Lets do this."

"Alright."

"Justin just say the spell!"

"I am!" Justin said. "I'm just panicking a little!"

"Ugh!" Alex leaned forward and surprised him by wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. When she pulled away, they both looked a little flushed.

"Um, ok, that helped a little," Justin said, and Alex settled back in to her original position. She gave a small smile. "Yeah I knew it would."

"I can do this," He said, and rolled up his sleeves. Alex studied him as he concentrated. He looked a lot different now, with the soft glow of the candles contrasting the harsh shadows. He looked like a real powerful wizard instead of the dorky, comic-loving brother she knew. And, she admitted to herself, loved.

She chewed her lip as Justin flicked his wand in some kind of complicated motion. He was muttering something, but it sounded so strange. She knew it was some kind of ancient language, but the dark words sounded a little weird coming from him. She took another calming breath before lifting her own wand. It was her turn.

She mimicked Justin's movements, although not with nearly the same amount of grace. She repeated her (easier) half of the spell, and the words joined together, sounding odd but they fit together at the same time. The flames on the candles rose and fell with the pitches of their voices, and the room slowly began to spin. Alex gasped and chanted harder, trying to hold on to what was happening. Slowly, everything around her began to dissolve, and all she could see was Justin, mirroring her. She saw his expression, and knew he could tell what was happening. His eyes were a little wide, but he kept going, and so did she.

Soon everything around her was black, her entire world became him. She tried to focus on it while saying the spell. She held on to his image as everything slipped away.

Then suddenly, the world lit up into a brilliant white that blinded her for a few seconds. It was like staring into a million suns. Then the world faded completely black, and Alex couldn't see anything, not even her brother.

She could hear the chanting, but she herself was not saying anything. It didn't even sound like Justin's voice.

"Justin?" She said weakly. She kept going with the wand movements, but she could no longer remember what she was supposed to be saying. "Justin?"

The chanting became louder, like it was coming closer, but she still saw nothing. "Justin!"

Then the blackness swirled around her, and the chanting was no longer coming from an ominous voice. Instead it was everywhere, millions of voices saying the same spell as everything spun.

"JUSTIN!" Alex tried again, but it was no use. She dropped her wand, and it fell to her lap. She stood frozen as everything closed in around her.

* * *

Justin opened his eyes.

He was laying on his bed with his regular pjs on. The moonlight shone through his window as he sat up.

Everything was creepily peaceful. There were no candles, no spell books. And of course, no Alex.

Leaping up, Justin ran out to the hallway and headed towards his right. He saw her bedroom door, and he grabbed the handle and pushed it open.

But instead of her bedroom, he saw a room filled with weights, and a treadmill was pushed against the far wall. He wandered into the room, a sense of dread in his stomach. He knew she wouldn't be here. Right now, Alex Russo didn't exist.

He could only hope that he could find her again.

He made his way to the other side of the room where her bed was supposed to be. Yesterday, a teenage girl had lived here. Now there was no telling where she was.

Although Justin sincerely hoped Alex was ok, he still felt horrible for what he had just done. He knew he would find her. He knew they would be together. But right not, standing in her room, he broke down and sank to the floor, shaking uncontrollably.

"What have I done?" He whispered miserably.

* * *

Alex rolled over. She sighed, and stretched her arms over her head. Something was eating away at her in the back of her mind. She frowned, but didn't open her eyes just yet. She wanted to remember before she woke up.

"Aleexxx. Wakey-wakey." Someone poked her hard in the ribs. She sighed and blinked her eyes open and stared at a dark haired boy standing over the side of her bed. "Justin?"

"What?" The boy said.

And then everything came back to her.

"OH MY GOD!" Alex shot up and threw the covers off her bed.

The boy next to her just stared. "That was kind of a delayed reaction."

Alex turned to look at him. "Who are you?"

He raised his eyebrows mockingly at her. "Uh, Your twin brother."

"Right." Alex nodded. "And what is your name?"

"Your joking right?" The boy said. He tapped her on the side of her head. "Hello? You still there?"

"Just answer the question!"

The boy snorted. "Dayyyy-viiddddd." He said slowly. "Got it?"

"Ok," Alex said. "Hi, David."

David just blinked and stared at her like she was the biggest idiot in the world. "Do you want me to tell you what five plus five is too?"

"Ten, duh," Alex pushed herself off the bed and began to survey her room. It was similar to her old one, it even had the same posters on the walls. The only difference was the door and the boy standing in it. She glanced out the window, and saw that she was still in a city. Question was what one was it. She wondered if she should risk asking him more, but she really needed answers.

"Well ok, I do have one more question." She sighed, bracing herself for complete humiliation.

"Yes, I am indeed a boy," David crossed his arms.

"I meant to ask where we are," Alex said irritably. She knew it wasn't really his fault and that he was just expecting her to have all the answers, but she didn't and she needed them.

"New York."

Alex breathed a deep sigh of relief. So she was in the same town as Justin was. Maybe even the same school. This wouldn't be so hard.

David just rolled his eyes at her. "You are so lame."

"Thanks."

David shrugged. "Mom wants us downstairs in about an hour. She wants to take us school shopping."

"Now that's lame," Alex said.

"Yeah pretty much." He punched her lightly in the arm. "So get ready because I'm not waiting with her while you are getting your hair ready or something. You know how she is with being punctual."

"Yup," Alex lied. David laughed and shook his head, and left the room. Alex gritted her teeth and looked around the room.

"I can't believe this," She murmured to herself. She wondered now who she was, and how her family was, and if Justin was looking for her. Everything felt so surreal, like it was all a bad dream.

Her stomach suddenly growled. Glancing down, Alex decided that she really didn't want to venture to the kitchen, so instead she retrieved her want from under her pillow. How she knew it was there she didn't know, it must have been part of the spell.

She pulled it out and waved it through the air. "Commakus Pancakus."

Nothing happened.

She tried again.

And again.

But still, nothing appeared.

A feeling of dread filled her, and she remembered vaguely, Justin saying something about horrible consequences. She turned to her pillow, and tried to turn it a different color. It stayed the same.

"No…" She whispered.

She couldn't believe it. She had expected maybe an injury or something. Not this.

She had never even considered that one of the consequences would be no longer being a wizard. But it was true.

She had lost her powers.

**Hey guys sorry about the long update, but I really wanted to get this chapter just right. Not sure if I succeeded, but I don't think I'm truly ever completely happy over my work unless I edit it a dozen times. And if I did that you'd never get an update. So here you go, and thanks to all my reviewers I love you all! **


	15. New Life

Alex swallowed as the car turned a sharp left and began driving up a steep hill. When they finally reached the top, the ground leveled out and a large, brick building with white shutter windows surrounded by trees. It looked sort of like a school out of some sort of odd, twisted fairytale. Or it was a prison.

She glanced to her right and saw David slumped in the leather clad seat, his ratty bag tossed carelessly on the floor alongside hers. He stared ahead, his hands tapping on his thighs to some kind of beat inside his head. She rolled her eyes, and was momentarily calmed.

Then the car slowed to a stop in front of the entrance.

Alex started hyperventilating.

How was she going to do this?

A new school where she was supposed to know everything, a new life, where she was supposed to follow perfectly. How could she pull this off?

She wanted Justin to come and save her right now. Desperately, she glanced around, craning her head out the window in a search for him. Of course, he wasn't there.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder.

She jumped, hitting her head the on the ceiling of the car. "Ow!"

"Jeez, you're jumpy," David said, smirking at her. "Maybe you should lay of caffeine or something, cause you are acting weee-irrrddd."

"Not now, David," Alex said irritably, nerves coiling in her stomach. It was a good feeling to know that she knew at least someone nice here, but right now she didn't need her new brother to be Mr. Smiley. She needed a different brother. One that would hopefully find her.

"Sorry Crabby Pants," David pretended to be upset by his attitude but Alex saw right through the thin act. She briefly smiled and then shoved past him to get out of the car. David decided to be a jerk for some reason and put up his legs as a barrier on the seat. She shoved past him, but he kept replacing the leg she pushed down.

"Ugh! David!" She said, and he chuckled quietly before opening the door and lowering his legs. She cast a glance at him before moving forward to get out. At the last second he laid his hand on her shoulder and gave her an extra push, causing her to stumble onto the concrete and drop her bag.

He laughed to himself and smoothly exited the vehicle, tugging his own bag behind him before swinging it onto his back. "Try not to fall, Sis," He said and ruffled the hair she had spent 30 minutes perfecting. Alex scowled at him, but he kept just laughed again and continued on his way to school, Alex glaring daggers into his back.

The bell rang, and Alex took a deep breath. "Come on, Russo," She muttered to herself, and rolled her shoulders and head before taking a couple steps towards the building. Students crowded around her, struggling to enter the school while avoiding getting hit by bags and poster people were carrying. A group of boys ran by, laughing and shoving each other, and everyone leaped back to avoid getting involved.

It was only when she had actually gotten inside that Alex realized she had absolutely no idea where she was going. She looked around, and lockers and open doors looked like they did in her school, but otherwise she saw nothing recognizable. No sign telling her where she was so supposed to go, or what she was supposed to do. She had binders in her backpack, and she had looked through them last night. She was smart in this world, receiving grades that would rival Justin's. And although she knew what classes she took, she didn't know where they were, when they were, and who they were taught by. She was lost, and no one could help her. How was she supposed to ask for help when everyone would expect her to know it already?

Alex whirled around again. The hallways were almost completely empty, only making her desperation worse. She began walking down the hallway, almost on the verge of crying in panic. Her shoes made loud tapping noises that rang in the silence. Her breath began to come out in short spurts and she started hyperventilating again.

"Oh no, no, no, no…" Alex moaned and ran a hand through her hair. She passed the girl's bathroom and paused at the entrance, before just pushing the door open and entering. She ran to the sink and immediately splashed cold water in her face. She gripped the sink and tried to calm down. Her vision seemed blurry, and she felt weak and shaky.

"Justin," Alex whispered to herself. "Come on. I know you can find me…"

A loud bang behind her had Alex gasping. She turned around and hit her arm on the sink. The door of the stall swung open and a couple fell out, tangled in each other's limbs. It was clear they had been making out- the girl's hair was disheveled and the clothes were wrinkled. The couple fought to stand, both of them were shaking with either laughter or surprise. Finally, they both came to their foot and looked at Alex, who just waved.

"Hey, Lex!" The girl said cheerfully, and bounded over to Alex and gave her a hug. The boy in the background just smiled and nodded, before gathering his bag and leaving.

"Uh, Hi?" Alex said, trying her best to sound casual. The girl let her go, and adjusted her strawberry blond hair. Her blue eyes were bright, and she had the biggest smile Alex had ever seen.

"Sorry you had to see that, I thought you had English this period?" The girl said.

"Uh, yeah, I was feeling sick."

"Oh, poor thing," The girl hugged her again.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm sure Nate is worried about you."

"N-Nate?"

"Of course Nate is worried silly," The girl rolled her eyes. "That boy would do anything for you! Remember when he brought soup to your house when you had the flu?"

"Uh, yeah," Alex lied, wondering who this "Nate" person really was.

"Aw," The girl placed her hand over her heart, and Alex was almost blinded by the sparkly pink nail polish. "So cute. I wish a Nick would do something like that for me."

Alex assumed Nick was the boy that had just left the room. "He will at some point."

"You think so?" The girl said, and she went to the corner of the bathroom to pull out a bag. Alex noticed that it was inscribed with the name Jessica in pink, curly letters on the front. She hoped it was the girl's name.

"Yeah," Alex said. "He will."

"Aw, thanks Lex," Jessica smiled even wider before rummaging for her bag and pulling out a brush, which she ran through her hair with her right hand. With her left, and reached towards the bottom and pulled out some chap stick.

"Here," She said, tossing it to Alex. "For you, since I know Nate will be dying to see you second period."

Alex caught it, and rolled it between her palms instead of applying it. She knew what the Chap Stick meant. She would have to kiss this Nate, whoever he was. It was clear he was her boyfriend in this world.

Great, more guy problems.

Jessica began adjusting her make-up, and Alex just stood there, waiting for her. She felt seriously sick now, a tight knot in her stomach.

Eventually, she just popped off the cap of the Chap Stick and applied a light layer, just in case Jessica expected it of her, before tossing it back in the bag. Jessica leaned back, finished primping, and then fluffed her hair before pulling her bag on her shoulder.

"Well, second period will start soon," She said just as the bell rang. "Come on." She looped her arm through Alex's and they both exited the bathroom and walked in the middle of the crowd of students. Thankfully, she and Jessica must have had the next class together, because they stayed together the entire time. Jessica stopped in front of a door that read 'Study Hall'. Alex sighed with relief. At least she wouldn't have to think here.

"Hey there," A blond haired boy approached the two girls, Nick in tow. Jessica grinned slyly and left Alex's side to wrap her arms around her boyfriend. Alex was left to face Nate on her own. She turned towards him slowly, unsure of what to do.

He was hot, she would give him that. He had a nice tan, messy blond hair, and green eyes. And he was looking at her. Like he liked her. Which she could assume he did. Flattering, and terrifying at the same time.

"Hey Alex," Nate said quietly. He smelled like grape bubblegum and some kind of cologne.

"Hi…Nate," Alex said slowly, hoping that she looked like she knew what she was doing. Nate leaned forward and kissed her lightly. She tried to act casual about it, but the whole time she felt sick and disgusted. It wasn't Nate's fault, and she was thankful that he was fooled. When he pulled away, he was smiling at her again.

"Ready for the math test today?" He asked and pulled the door open so they could walk inside.

"Uh, yeah," Alex said, taking a seat next to him in the back. She noticed a few stares of a few girls. Great, now she had enemies she didn't even know about.

Nate laughed. "I'm sure you are Miss Best in Class."

She was best in class?

She was best in a math class?

What kind of world, or life, at least, was this?

"Hey," Nate pocked her shoulder with his pencil. "What are you looking all worried for?" He mimicked her expression, overdoing it, of course, and she cracked a small smile before shrugging.

"You feel sick or something?"

"Yeah," Alex said quietly.

"Aw," Nate said, laying a hand on hers. "I know what'll make you feel beter."

"What's that?" Alex said, trying to play along.

Nate shifted before pulling two stiff pieces of paper out from his pocket before handing one to Alex.

Alex looked down at it, and noticed it was a concert ticket. "We're seeing Tears of Blood?" She gasped. So she liked the same band Justin did here.

"Uh huh," Nate grinned wide. "Told you it would cheer you up."

"Yeah, this is great," Alex tried to smile. Truth was, thinking of Tears of Blood just made her miss Justin even more. She just wanted to go back to the bathroom and be alone.

The rest of the period was excruciating. It was like being shoved out into the spotlight to play some main role in a play that she knew nothing about, when not just two seconds ago something traumatic had just happened to her.

She was alone, afraid, clueless, and magic less. And she didn't have Justin to help her. He was far away, hopefully looking for her. She glanced at the clock, and saw she had ten minutes to go until the period was over. Then she would go to the nurse and go home with some kind of sickness. She wasn't ready to face this.

_Justin, please hurry up. _

_

* * *

_

Justin did a cursory check of the house. Max was playing video games, where he would be distracted for hours, and his parents were off going on some special date where they would be dancing. When he was sure he wouldn't be interrupted, he placed the bowl of water on the counter and pulled a stood up.

"Ok," He said to himself, and he closed his eyes, concentrating. He moved his hand over the smooth surface of the water, muttering the spell he had just looked up. The bowl began to glow a soft blue. He withdrew his hands and opened his eyes, staring at the now rippling surface, where Alex's face stared blankly back at him. Then the scene changed, and he saw her sitting on her bed in a foreign room, an unfamiliar girl beside her. The scene flashed white, and he could see a sign outside a building. He squinted, but the words were too blurry to make out.

"Come on, clear up," He said, and tried concentrating harder. But he suddenly felt a sharp pain behind his eyes, and he gasped, and the bowl exploded, splashing him with water. The broken pieces fell to the floor and shattered.

"Oh no," He said, and glanced upstairs. It seemed that Max was still playing video games though. He ran to grab a mop and towel to clean up the mess.

He hadn't really expected to find her on the first try. The search spell was for advanced wizards, and he was surprised that he had managed to see anything at all. It was a complicated spell, and his only plan right now was to keep trying, and hope he got better at it. He had to. He had to find her. He felt awful about what he had done to her, and guilt kept him up at night, eating at him. He needed her back. Either as a sister or a girlfriend or a friend, he just needed her back.

"I'm trying," He whispered, and sat on the floor after the mess was cleared. He didn't know why, but he kept breaking down. Every moment he was two steps away from losing it. Life was almost impossible.

After a couple of moments, he sighed and stood up. Moping wouldn't bring Alex back. He had to keep working at it. For her.

* * *

"_Alex." Justin sighed and pulled her closer, glad to feel the heat of her body next to his. He was so worried. A sense of fear was coiled in his stomach, but he pushed it aside. For tonight, at least. He didn't know when he would see her again, and he just wanted to enjoy the few moments they would have. _

_They shifted so Alex could wrap his arms around her waist, and pulled her close to himself, pushing out all the thoughts in his head that screamed at him for what he was doing. But the worst thought of all was the idea that he was putting her in danger, just because he refused to live without her. _

_He tried not to feel guilty that he was enjoying what he was doing with her. Soon enough, it wouldn't be so bad. Love wasn't so supposed to be so bad, so it shouldn't matter, right? _

_He tried to be soft. There was no way he was showing her how dark he felt right now. She deserved something better. _

_When she arched against him, he both enjoyed and cursed the shiver of pleasure that racked through him. When she allowed him to touch in her in a way he shouldn't, he tried to ignore the fact that it was wrong. So wrong. _

_Because it didn't matter. Because they were in love. Because soon, it would be socially acceptable for him to love her. _

"_I love you," He whispered to her, as she drifted off to sleep, his arms wrapped tightly around her. _

* * *

Justin jerked awake, his body sprawled across his bed. He was still fully clothed and groggy. It took a couple seconds before he realized he must of fallen asleep while practicing.

Getting up, he saw that it was midnight, and his lamp cast a low glow around his room. He sighed and rubbed his jaw. He wasn't quite sure why he was having that dream. It hurt to think about their last night.

Groaning, he fell back onto the bed and closed his eyes. The restlessness was returning, and flashes of his dream (or actually, his memories) came back to him. He remembered the first time he had ever noticed he had feelings for her. The first time he'd kissed her, and more. It hurt to think about that, because it only increased his need to have her back.

"I promise," He whispered. He wasn't sure who he was talking to, he just wanted someone to listen. "I promise, I really loved her. I'm not some sick pervert after his sister. I really loved her. And I'll prove it. I just need to find her."

He opened his eyes. A strange sense of hope and hopelessness filled him. He would find her. Because he loved her. And he had promised.

Getting up, he retrieved the book where he had learned the search spell from. And he began to practice once more.


	16. The Truth

He had always known Alex was a pretty girl. It was her looks that had haunted him in the first place. But now she looked absolutely….perfect. Maybe it was because he hadn't seen her in a while. Or she just looked that good.

She smiled when he finally walked through the door. "Justin!" She cried out, and he had about a split second to prepare himself before she slammed into him. They stumbled back and hit the coffee table, which then crashed into the wall behind them, causing a lamp to crash to the floor.

"Crap Mom is going to kill us," Justin said, but he really didn't care because Alex's arms were hugging him tight, and at the moment it didn't matter what was broken.

"What's that?" Alex said against his shoulder. She lifted her head up to smile at him again. For once, the idea that they were closer than they should have been didn't cause his stomach to churn with guilt. This time, everything felt right.

"Oh, nothing," Justin sighed. Then he yelped as Alex stepped back and slapped him hard on the chest. "What was that for?"

"For taking so long to find me Egghead!" But even as she said that, she leaned up to kiss him lightly. Justin no longer felt the slight sting anymore, and tried to press her closer to him, but couldn't. Her body became smoke, drifting up towards the ceiling until she was gone completely.

"Alex!" Justin called out. But she was gone.

* * *

"Alex, Alex, Who the heck is this Alex girl?" Jerry pulled the comforter off of his eldest son and tossed it to the ground. Justin mumbled something and curled into a ball.

"Justin," Jerry said. "Justin, wake up, we need to talk."

"What, Dad?" Justin said, rolling over and brushing his hair back from his face. Jerry was standing at the foot of his bed. The light was filtering through the shades, causing dramatic shadows to cross his face. Justin squinted, then widened his eyes when he noticed his father holding the spell book out in front of him.

Deciding to play dumb, Justin just shook his head. "Uh, what is that?"

"I don't know Justin, maybe you should tell me?" Jerry seethed. "I came in to make sure your nightlight was on because I heard you yelling, and I found this on the floor, opened to this spell!" Jerry opened the book and pointed. Justin leaned in and then looked up at his Dad in disbelief.

"You mean the how to enlarge your-" Justin broke off. "Dad, I swear I wasn't looking at that one!"

"What?" Jerry glanced down at the page. "No, not that spell! This spell!" He flipped the pages and then pointed. Justin swallowed when he recognized the spell he and Alex had used.

"What is the meaning of this?" Jerry demanded. He shook the book furiously. "Are you trying to get rid of Max? I know he picks his nose and wipes them on your schoolbag but this is going to far!"

"He does what to my backpack?"

"That's not the point!" Jerry shouted. "The point is that I am very concerned about finding out that my son is using dark magic. Didn't I teach you better than this?"

"Dad I wasn't going to use dark magic ever!" Justin lied. "I was just looking!"

"And then what is this!" Jerry bent down to pick up another book, and opened it up to the search spell. "What is this? And I did some searching and found the bowl you broke! Why are you looking at such powerful spells, Justin? You could really hurt yourself! And now I've got the Wizard Police downstairs and-"

"Wait, Dad, slow down!" Justin tried to comprehend what his dad had been saying. "The Police?" He said weakly. Jerry nodded, too furious to speak.

Justin got out of the bed and quietly dressed. Jerry was silent too, but in this case, the silence just made his anger more pronounced.

When he finally made it downstairs, he saw three policemen, his mother, and Max sitting down in the living room. Jerry came behind him and took his seat. Swallowing hard, Justin sat down.

"Justin Russo," A tall man said. "Chief Green."

Justin nodded as he waited for the questions to begin.

"So," Chief said. "It is under my impression that you used dark magic on a family member."

"I thought you said you didn't use that spell!" Jerry exploded. The policemen turned to stare at him, and he became silent again.

"This family member happens to be your daughter, Alexandra Russo."

"I have a daughter?" Theresa said.

"Yes, Ms. Russo, but since Justin used the spell on her, you are unable to recall who she is."

"Justin, why would you do that?" Jerry shouted. Again, he got stared at, and again, he became silent.

"What do you have to say for yourself Mr. Russo?" The Chief asked.

"I-" Justin sighed and sank into the chair. "I can't tell you."

"Justin, if you don't tell us the truth, we will be forced to put you in jail for life for using dark magic. And you will be exempt from the Wizard competition, and stripped of your powers."

"Does this mean I automatically win the competition? Woohoo!" Max leaped up and began to do a victory dance, which he finished by moon walking out of the room. There was a moment of peace before a crash came in the hall.

"Is he going to be ok-" The Chief asked.

"Oh, yeah, he's fine," Justin said.

"Ok, now back to business. Justin, you have to tell us the truth."

"It'll make it worse," Justin said. "You'll just think I'm some sick, when I'm not. I might as well just keep quiet."

"Justin, please just tell the truth," Theresa said. "Please, for me? For…for your sister?"

Justin closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Could he tell the truth? What would happen if he did?

There was only one way to find out.

"Ok, fine, but no interrupting, and no judging."

"Agreed," Chief Green said.

* * *

"So, Alex," Nate smiled down at her, but Alex pretended to be distracted by the numerous posters lining the walls of the hallway. "What are you doing this weekend?"

"What?" Alex asked distantly.

"I was wondering if you wanted to see a movie."

"Yeah, sure," Alex said.

"Really, cause you don't sound too excited."

"I am," Alex forced a smile, and Nate smiled back as they headed off to their last class. They came into the room and sat in the back. A whole chalkboard of notes stretched from one end of the class to the other, causing the students to groan before reluctantly pulling out their notebooks and flipping to blank pages.

The phone rang, and the teacher, a young blonde in a sad looking black suit rushed to answer it. She spoke for a couple of seconds before hanging up. "Alex," she called. "Please report to the office."

Alex ignored the "Ooohsss," As she walked out of the classroom. It took a couple of minutes before she made her way to the office. She stepped inside and was hit with a wave of cool, air-conditioned air.

"Alexandra Russo?" A man said, rising from his chair next to the secretary's desk.

"Yes?" Alex asked, confused. The man looked around, and made sure that the secretary was busy on the phone before facing her again.

"Ms. Russo, I represent the Wizarding Police," The man pulled out his badge. "You need to come with me. Immediately."


	17. The Decision

The first thing Alex saw when she was escorted through the door was her brother sitting on the couch, still dressed in pajamas and a t-shirt, his head in his hands, his hair disheveled, and a tired look on his face. It felt good to see him again.

Alex took a step forward, and despite the somber mood in the room, she was filled with a sudden happiness that couldn't be held down. It was like that instant warmth felt after drinking hot chocolate after hours in the freezing cold.

"Justin!" She called out and ran to him. Justin jumped up from the couch and held his palm out. Confused, Alex skidded to a stop on the carpet and merely stared at him. Justin shook his head and turned to push the coffee table a few inches to the side. Alex raised her eyebrows, completely confused. Then Justin turned to her, smiled, and held his arms out. Alex smiled too and ran to him, hugging him hard. They stumbled back and Justin fell to the ground. Laughing, for a few seconds Alex forgot where they were and she kissed him sloppily, completely missing his mouth and instead getting his chin. Justin laughed for the first time in a while and sat up to kiss her when someone cleared their throat.

"Ok, break it up," Chief Green called out. Alex and Justin took a couple of seconds to compose themselves, before getting up and sitting quietly on the couch like dignified people, trying to pretend that no one has just seen their love display.

"Justin, I can't believe this!" Theresa said, rising from the chair across the couch. Alex glanced up, and felt the sudden bubble of joy return.

"Mom!" She cried out, but Theresa shook her head.

"I wish I could remember you that way," She said quietly, almost sad. The entire room was awkwardly quiet for a minute.

"Mom, I'm sorry," Alex said. She looked to the right and saw her father sitting, staring at his coffee mug as if it had all the answers to life's problems. "I'm sorry too, Daddy." Jerry turned to look at her.

"It's just that, we have this daughter that we can't remember, and now we find out that our daughter and our son were in love and used dark magic!" Theresa burst out before Jerry could speak. Alex said nothing, and Justin just shook his head. He had said all that he needed to. Surprisingly, after he told his story, Chief Green had immediately commanded a group of wizards to track down Alex. They had managed to find her after only a couple of hours, and had gone to get her. Now she was back with him, her hand in his, and although he was terrified about what was going to happen, for once he didn't feel disgusted with himself. For once, when he told himself he loved Alex, he no longer felt the guilt. And that feeling of being free to love her was a high that nothing could crush.

"This is a very rare situation," Chief Green said, sighing and settling down in a seat across from the two teens. "It is not very often that both participants in a dark magic spell are aware of what is happening, and even more, willing to accept what is happening. As such, we cannot charge you with assaulting someone with magic." There was a pause as everyone waited with anticipation. "But," He said, "The fact is you did use dark magic, and although your intentions may have been pure, you still committed a crime. Therefore we have no other option."

Just and Alex glanced at each other. They had the same expression on their faces. Although they were both a little afraid about what was going to happen, they both knew that no matter what punishment, as long as they had each other, they would get by. So they both turned back to the Chief and waited for their punishments.

"Like I said, this is a rare case, and although most people would want you two put in jail, we have managed to come to a different decision. We will have no other choice but to erase everything that has happened. This spell will be undone by an incredibly powerful group of wizards that we have for emergencies like this. Your minds will be erased and you will not remember any of this. And most importantly, you two will be forced to drink a potion that will destroy any romantic love you two may have for each other."

There was a heavy moment of silence, where absolute anger and despair weighed in with Chief Green's words. Then the protests began. Alex and Justin both shouted at the same time:

"You can't!"

"This is love you're talking about destroying, how can you do this?"

"This will destroy everything we've worked for!"

"You can't take her away from me, I love her!"

"I love him, why are you doing this?"

"What is wrong with you?"

"Silence!" Chief Green hissed, and Alex and Justin both sat down, Alex shaking with anger, and Justin shaking his head. He was calmer though, and behind his quiet exterior, he was thinking. There had to be a solution.

"I know you are upset, but this is for the best," Chief Green said. "You are lucky you aren't going to jail. And Alex, your powers will return."

Alex shook her head. "It's not worth is."

"Excuse me?"

"My powers. It's not worth getting them back if I can't have Justin."

"Sweetie, there'll be other guys out there. Guys who aren't your brother," Theresa said soothingly, walking over to hold her daughter, but Alex pushed her away.

"Not like Justin," Alex said. "I don't love other guys, I love him."

"Alex, you're fifteen."

"So?"

"Ms. Russo, it's just best if you don't try to fight," Chief Green said. "Everything will go much more smoothly, and you can continue on in a happier life."

"I am happy," Alex muttered, but leaned back and closed her eyes. "You can't do this."

"Ms. Russo, it is either this or facing a life sentence, you decide."

"Fine," Alex said. "I choose the life sentence, as long as I can keep Justin."

"Alex, you don't know what you are doing," Theresa said.

"Don't worry Mrs. Russo, we will still give her the original sentence, no matter what she says," Chief Green said. Theresa sighed in relief.

"Listen, I know things seem sad right now, but by this time tomorrow your lives will be back to normal," Jerry said. Alex shook her head.

"No it won't. No matter what you do to me, I will have always loved Justin. And since for some reason Fate gave him to me as the love of my life, if you do this, I will never find anyone else. I will always be alone and unable to love anyone else as I have loved him."

Chief Green sighed and let out a grunt before standing up and clapping his hands together. It didn't really matter how much they protested, or how fancy Alex's words were or how heartfelt her words were. Nothing was going to change his mind on their sentence. They were lucky with what they were getting. "Alright," He said, the only one who sounded slightly more cheerful, "I guess I better escort you to the station where we can take care of this problem and-"

"Wait." Justin's voice came out quietly, but someone it caused everyone else to become silent. Once again, a stillness came across the room.

Chief Green sighed again, just wanting to solve this situation and move on. "What is it?"

Justin looked at the chief straight in the eye, and spoke with an authority that no one knew he possessed. "There is another way."

"I'm not sure where you are going with this, but I would like to ask you to not try and run, I could easily add on something worse to your sentence," Chief Green warned.

Justin shook his head. "I'm not running."

"Then what kind of solution are you referring to?"

"Cases like this, as you said, are rare, correct?" The chief nodded. "Well then, perhaps cases like this could be examined by someone else. Someone who may have a different opinion on how to handle this?"

"What are you ta-" Chief Green stopped, and his eyes widened. "Are…you…are you talking about the-"

"The Wizard Council."

"The Wizard council?" Theresa asked suspiciously.

"It's sort of like the Supreme Court for Wizards," Jerry explained. "But they're even tougher than the Wizarding Police. And whatever they decide is final, even if their sentence is much worse." For the first time, he looked at his son directly. "Justin, if you and Alex decide to plead your case to the council, they may decide on a punishment far worse than the one you got. You got lucky once, it will be even harder to try and talk your way out of an easier punishment."

"I know," Justin said. "But it's worth a shot."

Chief Green shook his head. "Boy, you are foolish. I'm giving you a chance at a life. They might just decide to take yours for using such a bad spell. Or, if you're lucky, a lifetime in jail."

"Maybe, maybe not."

Jerry was shaking his head. "Justin, please, just accept what you are being given. I don't want to lose my kids now."

Justin glanced at him, and then at Theresa, who looked like she was about to cry. Then he looked at Alex, who was staring at him, torn between wanting to use his idea, and the fear of losing him completely. Then he turned to Chief Green. "Can you give me a couple of minutes to decide?"

Chief Green groaned, but nodded and sat back down. Justin looked around the room. "Alone?"

"Why don't I show you the substation?" Theresa said, and ushered everyone out. She gave Justin a look before closing the door. Once everyone was gone, Alex turned to him and tackled him. Justin was caught off guard and she pushed him down and kissed him hard.

"You…big…_idiot_." Alex said between kisses. "What are we going to do?"

"Well, what do you want?" Justin asked, and wound his fingers through her hair, keeping her face close to his. Alex shook her head.

"I don't know." Alex tried to lean back, but Justin kept her where she was and kissed her slowly, trying to take in as many moments as possible, because he was scared that it could be their last. Then before he knew it his mind was shutting down and his body took on a will of its own. Alex gasped a little as his hands moved from her hair to her hips, pulling her even closer to him. She subconsciously grinded herself against him, and he groaned, his thoughts reluctantly returning to him. "We only have a few minutes."

"I know, I know, sorry," She whispered, but she didn't look it, and neither did he. They kissed once more before hearing voices outside the door. They broke apart as the group came back in. Chief Green marched to the couch and crossed his arms, staring down at Justin.

"Well, Mr. Russo?" He asked. "What have you decided?"

Justin swallowed and glanced once more at Alex before he stared right back up at the chief. He took one more second to make sure he was positive of his decision. There was no turning back now.

Chief Green cleared his throat. "I'm waiting."

"I chosen to," Justin broke off once and took a deep breath. "The case will go to the Wizard council."

Chief Green looked shocked, but he covered it up quickly. "Very well," He said. "We will go in the morning."

Justin nodded seriously. "Thank you."

Chief Green snorted. "I would thank me just yet boy. You better be ready. They do not fool around in the council."

Justin took Alex's hand in his own and spoke clearly. "Don't worry. We will be."

**Well I'm sorry to say that this story is coming to a close, just a few more chapters left, depending on the length. Thanks to everybody who is sticking to the story. I'm kind of sad to be sitting here and writing the ending (who would have ever thought my first fanfic story would've been a jalex?) But anyways there is more to come. There probably will be a lemon in the next chapter as well. Anyways, please review, I really appreciate them! **


	18. Last Moment

Alex groaned and mumbled something groggily when a hand had poked her hard in the ribs, waking her up. She rolled over and pulled Justin's sheets over her, and saw Justin himself standing by the bedside, gazing down at her. It was dark, and he had closed the door, so she had to squint to make out his figure in the black.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered. Since Alex's room had been replaced because of the spell, Alex had been given Justin's room to sleep in, and he had been sent to sleep in either Max's room or on the couch. At the moment he should be in the living room or on the floor next to Max's bed. He didn't answer her question, however, he just smiled and leaned down to kiss her.

"I needed you," He whispered, just like he had when this had all started. Alex rolled her eyes, but reached up and pulled him to her, and he pulled the sheets down so he could climb into bed with her. She laughed quietly when she felt his hot breath on her neck, tickling her, which then turned into a quiet moan when he traced a hand down her body.

"Alex," He breathed. He needed her one last time tonight. Just in case things didn't go well. But he wasn't going to think about that. Tonight, he was hers.

They kissed, slowly at first, but then it turned into something more passionate. Justin tried to go slower and softer, but he was finding that incredibly difficult when she was pressing herself against him, and his need was obvious against her leg. Giving in, he kissed her harder before pulling her shirt over her head as well as his own. He happily found that she slept without a bra, so he lowered his head to her chest.

"Justin," Alex moaned quietly, as he simultaneously pulled down her pajama bottoms and underwear while attacking her nipple with his tongue. "When did you get so smooth in bed?"

Chuckling, Justin glanced up at her and saw she was smiling. "I don't know", he said, ducking his head down to her chest again as his hand slipped between her legs. "Guess I'm just gifted," He said as she moaned into his shoulder, bucking against him as he made her even wetter. A tight knot was forming in her stomach as she began to moan breathlessly, unable to believe that this could feel so good. Then she decided that it would be a little fun to get back at him.

Justin jumped a little when her hand slipped between them and brushed against the tent in his boxers. He groaned, and Alex used the opportunity to roll him over and straddle him. His hand came up to cup her breasts, and she removed his boxers and ran a finger down his length. She was a little unsure of how to go about this, but Justin didn't seem to be complaining so she continued. Justin made a noise low in his throat as she got the hang of what she was doing. Before he could climax, however, he quickly pushed her over back to their original positions and gently pushed her knees apart before partially entering her. He glanced over to make sure she was alright before he pushed all the way in. Then he began to thrust in and out, glad that this time he wasn't putting her in pain. She gripped his shoulders and gasped as he continued, both of them feeling the building up of pleasure. Finally she moaned his name, which he muffled with his mouth as she came. He soon found his own release, and gasped before lying down next to her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I love you," Alex said, curling up against him. "No matter what."

"I love you too," He said.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"I don't want to think about it," Justin said.

"But are you?"

"As much as possible." Justin kissed her. "But please forget it? For now?" He didn't want to admit that he was feeling horribly guilty for being the one to choose the Wizard Council, and he would never forgive himself if things went wrong.

"Fine," Alex said. It was quiet for a couple of seconds, before Justin heard Alex laugh softly to herself. He rolled over so he could look at her face.

"What's so funny?" Justin asked.

"Oh, nothing," Alex shook her head. "I'm just thinking about how disappointed Nate will be."

"Who's Nate?" Justin asked sharply.

"Oh, no one," Alex pushed at his arm, because his grip had suddenly become vice-like on her shoulder. "Just my boyfriend in this life that you sent me to."

"Boyfriend?" Justin hissed. "What boyfriend? When?"

"Justin, calm down," Alex said, and ran a hand through his hair before kissing him lightly. "If all goes well tomorrow, it won't matter who Nate is."

"And what if things don't go so well?"

"Then I'm your sister, and I'll never see Nate again."

"And you'll never have feelings for me again." Justin groaned and rolled onto his back. "I don't want to think about this."

Alex was about to comfort him, when a new plan formed into her mind. She chewed her lip once, before sighing and pushing herself closer to him.

"Hey," She said. Justin looked at her. "Don't give up on me now. There's still a round two we need to take care of."

Justin raised an eyebrow. "What round two?"

Alex quickly straddled him and placed her hands on his chest, pushing him back down onto the mattress.

Justin seemed a little shocked, but after a couple seconds passed he just smirked and reached up to tangle his hands in her hair. "Well, I have to say, I'm liking where this is going."

Alex snorted and leaned down to kiss him. "You are such a hormone-riddled boy."

"Maybe, but a very happy hormone-riddled boy." Justin kissed her again.

Alex grinned back at him. Who knew that it would take sex to make her completely inept-at-handling women brother to become perfectly smooth? She smiled even wider as Justin pulled her closer to him.

For now, it didn't matter what happened tomorrow. Throughout the night, Alex tried to hold on to what it felt like to be in love, what it felt like to have Justin's arms around her, and hoped that maybe, even if things went completely wrong, she could hold on to at least the gist of this memory. Maybe then it would be enough.

Sighing with what was perhaps her last moment of total happiness; she surrendered to her feelings, and just tried to live.

Who knew a round two could be so distracting?

**This may have been the shortest chapter I have ever written, but I wanted to give a chapter just on them before the drama starts (dun dun dun). So be prepared, the next few chapters aren't going to be as sweet. What can I say? I enjoy the angst. **

**Hoped you liked the lemon, I'm still very new at writing them but I'm pretty pleased with this one. And don't worry about the chapter lengths; this will be the shortest one. **

**Thanks for reading! **


	19. The Wizard Council

**Well here we go, only a few more chapters and then the end! **

Justin took a deep breath. It felt as if all of the pressure that had been released last night was now crashing down at him, weighing down so heavy he wasn't sure if he could do it. He was standing outside of a large, silver door that was about twenty feet tall. One of the doors had a black 'W', the other had a 'C'. Behind those doors lay the answers to how his future would end up. He swallowed hard and reached for Alex's hand. She, too, was staring at the door, a blank expression on her face. She was probably just taking it all in, the whole idea seemed completely overwhelming. Justin side-glanced at her, and she turned to look at him. Then she leaned casually into his side, resting her head onto his shoulder.

"You ready?" He asked for the last time.

Alex squeezed her eyes shut and gripped his hand harder. "Yeah," She said hoarsely.

Chief Green stepped up behind them, and clapped a hand on Justin's shoulder. Despite his tough exterior, he seemed to be neutral about the whole thing, and had not said a word to the two as he had escorted them through the portal to the Wizarding world, and then to the council building. The outside was just as menacing as the inside. It was a large building, the ceiling high above their heads (most likely to accommodate possible giants), the walls were lined with cold marble columns, and the floors were marble too. It was eerily quiet in the building as well, and every step echoed loudly in the silence. Justin could have sworn he could have heard his pounding heart echoing in the emptiness.

"Alright," Chief Green whispered. He had made the mistake of shouting when they had first entered the building, and his voice had echoed so loud the Wizard Council had probably heard him. "You are to go in there. They will read the accusations, you will get a chance to defend yourselves, they will probably call a few witnesses, and then they will deliberate. Remember, it is best you tell the truth. Lying is the absolute worst thing you can do when facing the council."

Justin nodded. "Thanks."

Alex lifted her head from Justin's shoulder, and turned to shake Chief Green's hand. "Yeah, thanks," She said quietly. Justin pulled her closer, trying to soothe her. She sounded so quiet, it was worrying him. He hoped she would be alright enough to face the council.

"Ok," Justin said, trying to sound confident. "You ready?"

"Justin." Alex said. The she took a deep breath and exhaled. "I love you."

"I love you too," Justin said, and turned to face the doors. "Ok. We're ready."

Immediately a group of six people dressed in back came gliding from the sides; three from the left and three from the right. They were all somber, and their eyes seemed to be distant. They made no eye contact, not even with each other, as they approached the door. A rope came cascading down from the top on both sides. The group gripped the ropes tightly, and made no noises that proved that hauling the giant doors open was a large effort as they smoothly opened them. A small creaking noise was the only sound, along with Alex and Justin's breathing. The doors were pulled open completely, and the group of six clasped their hands together and bowed to each other before entering the room. Justin and Alex glanced at each other once more before following, still holding hands.

The group that had opened the doors continued down the aisle. The room was just as large as everything else in the building. Dark brown benches lined the aisle, and at the front of the room sat a seventh member dressed in black, who was seated at a large throne of gold, with three smaller thrones on either side of it. The group of six took their seats, and Justin then realized that they were all part of the Wizard Council. The group of 7 of the most powerful wizards known to the Wizarding World. At another time, he would have been greatly impressed and awed, but at the moment all he felt was a deep sense of fear and dread. He suddenly became very self conscious. It was still completely silent, and the council said nothing as Alex and Justin approached them. They merely stared, giving Justin the feeling that they were taking in every movement, every glance, and every breath that he took. He wondered briefly if he was becoming paranoid. He looked at Alex, and she seemed to be feeling the same way, judging by the self-conscious-please-someone-cover-me-now expression on her face.

The two of them took their seats in the two chairs that were placed in front of the council. The head council member cleared his throat, and three beings (they sort of looked liked elves) rushed forward juggling a podium. They placed it in front of the leader, bowed, and scurried off. Justin would have followed where they ran off to, but he was too busy focusing on the leader standing and taking his place at the podium.

A couple of seconds, then minutes passed as Justin waited for the leader to speak. He stared at him, he stared back, and expectant look on his face. It took another minute of complete confusion before the realization stepped it. It was he who was supposed to talk first.

"Oh!" Justin muttered to himself. "Well, sir…" He struggled with how to begin. Hadn't Chief Green said they would read the accusations first? Clearly the rules had been changed since the last time the Chief had attended one of these meetings.

"Um, as you already know, Alex and I used a dark magic spell, and we used to so that we could be together. You see, I loved Alex, and she loved me, but we were brother and sister…and you probably know, and, well…"

"We had no other option," Alex spoke up. Justin slumped back in the chair with relief. He let Alex take control, she was much better at speaking under pressure anyways.

"You see," She continued, and he was glad to hear that she no longer sounded so quiet. She sounded more like herself, which made him feel immensely better. "It was either we both stay and accept the way things were and remain feeling guilty and miserable the rest of our lives, or do something about it. I'm sure you must have heard that people do desperate things in love. Although this was a desperate move, we didn't just rush into it. We did think about it, we really did. I know what we did was black magic. But our intentions weren't bad. We didn't do it out of selfishness; we did it to be together. We haven't harmed anybody, and although my parents may be upset about not being able to remember a daughter, I can still be a part of their lives. Just please, I need to be with Justin. Even if you erase my mind, I will always need him, because I love him, and even if I can't remember that I do I always will, and trying to search for something we'll never find is worse than the worse sentence you can put on us."

There was another minute of silence, in which the council took in what Alex had said. Justin had to admit that he was impressed with Alex's speech. He'd never heard her speak so well.

Then the Council Leader cleared his throat, and took a moment to compose himself.

"You speak well, Ms…" He paused. "What is your new last name?"

"Just call me Russo," Alex said, and Justin noticed her nerves seemed to be returning, because she was back to sounding quiet again.

"Ms. Russo, that was an excellent speech and I suppose you do have valid points." He paused to shuffle some papers around on the podium. "However we do have many things we must consider. You did use black magic. You used it willingly, completely aware of what you were committing. If we let everyone go who claimed that they committed a crime out of love, this world would be overrun by criminals. However, at the same time, you have not now or ever truly harmed anyone with your magic, and I can see that your intentions were indeed true, and you meant every word. Therefore this deliberation will be difficult." He pauses again, and motioned for the other members to rise and stand beside him, their expressions withdrawn. They stood shoulder to shoulder in a straight line with the same, stiff pose. They almost looked like statues.

"Before we can make any decision, I must consult with others. This kind of case is one that is not just for the Wizard Council to decide, but also for the Wizarding World. Once news gets out of this, we will be scrutinized for our decision, whatever it is. Therefore we must make sure that our decision is based on what is best for the entire community as well. Do you understand?"

Justin and Alex nodded.

"Very well. Then we must consult not only with your family and Chief Green, but randomly selected people, who will be given an overview of your case and asked to give an opinion. However, also know that the decision is down to my brothers and I. We will take the public into consideration, but you must know that the outcome of this trial is unknown. It is neither for nor against you at this moment. Bear that in mind as we continue."

Justin and Alex nodded again. Neither of them could seem to find their voice. The Council Leader cleared his throat again, and the elves returned, scurrying in to lift the podium and carry it away. Again, Justin couldn't find the strength to turn and see where they went.

"This case will take a couple of days. Because of the large amount of witnesses we must find, you will not be expected back for two days. However, you will be here two days from now, and you must be present in court for every single witness." Once more, the two just nodded.

"You will be given a place to stay in the courthouse, and guards will be placed outside your doors. However you will be free to wander, as long as you stay within the boundaries of the town and are escorted by police."

The Council Leader clapped his hands once, and this time a group of five elves came in. They surrounded the two, and motioned for them to stand. As they did, two elves immediately removed their chairs, while the other three guided them out of the room. As they left, the six council members came filing out, and they repositioned themselves on the outside of the door, and then closed it shut with a final bang. A few columns shook slightly as this happened. Then the six disappeared down separate hallways, as quietly as they had appeared.

The elves led Justin and Alex around a corner and through a hallway that stretched on endlessly, with no doors on either side. Just columns and portraits of presumably deceased council members lining the sides. Then they came to a fork in the hallway, but the elves led them to the right, down another door less hall that came to an abrupt end. The elves bowed to the wall and then dispersed. Justin and Alex glanced at each other; confused, until the entire hallway began to shake. Alex yelped and gripped Justin's arm tightly. They both backed up a little as the wall began to break apart, chunks falling to the ground. A large crack ran down the middle of the wall, and then the entire thing exploded into dust. When it cleared, two mahogany doors appeared, and the hallway stilled, the evidence of what had just occurred completely gone. Justin reached out his hand to pull the door open, when he heard a clang from the opposite direction. Spinning, Justin saw was he assumed were the guards. A group of about 15 goblins marched seriously in their direction. They then split, and surrounded both sides of the door. The one nearest to Justin nodded, and he pulled open the door for them and ushered them inside before slamming it shut.

"Thanks!" He shouted to the closed door.

"Justin, look at this!" Alex said, and Justin turned to see the room. His jaw dropped.

"Wow," He said.

The room, like everything else, was huge. There was a large bay window all the way at the end, but the shades were drawn tightly and he doubted they would be allowed to open them. On either side of the window were two large beds placed at an angle to each other. There were columns going down either side of the middle of the room. On the left, there was another large mahogany door that led to what he assumed to be the bathroom. On the right behind the columns there was a large couch and chairs that were all arranged to form the letter 'W'. A large gold 'C' was stamped onto the coffee table that was in the center.

"This is so cool," Alex said, and thankfully in this room, her voice didn't echo. Justin felt surprisingly better when he saw her smile and run to the bed and leap on it. He shook his head, and felt a tiny tug on his mouth a he wanted to smile, but couldn't quite manage. He was still quite shaken from facing the council. They were all so scary and mysterious and disciplined. He wasn't sure how he would sleep tonight.

"Justin, come on," Alex said, as she began to jump up and down, her hair going wild.

"You want me to jump on the bed?"

"No, I want you to stand there gaping like an egghead. Yes, I want you to jump."

"You'd think after all that we've been through you wouldn't call me that!" Justin said, but he complied with what she wanted and climbed onto the bed. She grabbed his hands and forced him to jump with her. She began to laugh hysterically, and he felt himself smile widely, he couldn't help in. Then she collapsed and fell onto her back. He continued to jump until she kicked his legs, causing him to trip and tumble down next to her.

"Hey!" He said, and was about to get revenge on her when he noticed her face. Her eyes were shut, here eyebrows were furrowed, and she looked tense.

"What's wrong?" He asked, and pulled her to his chest and laid his head on hers.

She sighed. "Nothing."

"Come on, tell me," Justin pleaded.

"No."

"I bet I can get you to tell me."

"I bet you can't."

"Wanna bet?" Justin wasn't sure where his playfulness was coming from, but right now all he wanted was for her to calm down. She was scaring him slightly, and her nerves were adding to his guilt about choosing to face the Council. He just wanted her to feel better.

Gripping her shoulders, he turned her around in his arms and placed a sloppy kiss on her forehead. She sighed again. "Not going to work."

"Oh yeah?" He then kissed down the side of her face and to the corner of her mouth.

"No," She said in a monotone voice, as if she was very far away. Well, that wasn't going to work. Desperate to bring her back, he slid his hand from her shoulder to her chest. She gasped and he could literally see her return from her thoughts as her eyes, which had been lifeless, brightened up again.

"Justin Russo," She slapped his hand away. "How is that going to get me to tell you?"

"You have to admit, it got me somewhere," He said, and moved his mouth to her neck.

"Jus-"He could tell she was about to say his name in an annoyed tone, but the other half of his name came out slightly breathless. He smirked against her skin; he could tell he was getting closer. So he decided to go for it, and moved from her neck to her mouth, which he attacked with full forced. He could tell he surprised her, so he gripped the back of her head so she wouldn't fall backwards. His other arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer. When he was done, he pulled back to look at her, and he could see her panting and biting her lip. He fought back a second smirk, because he knew he had won.

"Fine," She said, and exhaled deeply. "I just don't want to make you feel bad or anything?"

"Just tell me," Justin said.

"I'm just…scared." Alex said, and leaned against him, probably so he wouldn't have to see her face. "I mean, I was scared before, but I didn't think I would be this scared, and then we went in and it was just…" She stopped, trying to find the right words. "Awful. Horrible. Terrifying."

Justin closed his eyes and pulled her even closer to him. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I chose to do this."

"Please don't be sorry," Alex said. "See this is why I didn't want to say anything, I knew you would feel bad. Look, just forget it. I'm glad you did this."

"You don't sound it."

"I just said I was scared. But Justin, I want to be with you so bad. I'm willing to risk it all. I'm glad you chose this. Really."

"You sure?"

"If I wasn't I would have told you not to choose this," Alex said, and leaned back so she could kiss him fully. "Really."

Justin sighed and pulled back. "And now we have to wait a full two days."

"I know, the anticipation is killing me," Alex groaned. "What are going to do for two days?"

"Count how many hallways are in this building?"

Alex laughed. "Yeah that would take only ten years."

"Mm. Worth a shot."

"Yeah." Alex kissed him again. "What do you think will happen?"

"I don't know. Let's not think about it."

"That's what you said last night."

"Well, it worked."

"Fine," Alex said. Then she closed her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Justin asked.

"Wishing all the bad thoughts away," Alex said. She opened her eyes. "See? Now for two days I will not be worried or nervous."

"That really worked?"

"Sure, you try it. Now close your eyes."

Justin eyed her suspiciously before doing as she told.

"Ok, now just focus on good stuff and…" Alex didn't complete her sentence, because she quickly jumped out of his tight hold and scrambled off the bed.

Justin opened eyes. "You tricked me!"

"Like I've never done that before!" Alex called and Justin saw her duck behind the couch. He rolled his eyes and ran after her. She ran up from her hiding spot. Laughing, she darted and weaved through the columns. He continued to chase her until she ran to the bathroom. She opened the door and he caught up to her as she pulled it open. She tried to turn and shut the door in his face but he caught it and pulled it open as she stumbled back. He reached out to grab her and pull her to him. She was laughing so hard she could only manage a weak swat of her hand in his direction as he grabbed her and kissed her long and hard on the lips.

"Gotcha," He said when he pulled apart.

She rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer. "Have all your bad thoughts gone away yet?"

He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. "Well, all the bad thoughts about the trial at least."

"What is that-"Her eyes widened as she got it. "Justin! Really! I thought you were a dork!"

"Dorks can't have fantasies?" He asked and kissed her.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I feel a lot better."

"Was that supposed to be serious or sarcastic?"

"Both."

Justin rolled his eyes too and pulled her against the wall. "Two. Days." He said between kisses.

"Ugh, don't remind me."

"You going to be ok?"

"Of course. You're with me." She ran a hand through his hair. "Don't ever lie and leave me again. Please."

"Never," He agreed. And he seriously hoped, with all that he was, that he would be able to keep that promise. He would do whatever it took to stay with her.

**Whew, this chapter took a lot out of me. And it's the longest I have ever written. And the real drama is yet to begin. Thankfully I have one more night of sleeping in before school (which is why I'm writing so much now, when school comes I don't want to be too busy) but hopefully I'll be able to keep up with by frequent updates, at least until the story is done. **

**Anyways, thanks for the reviews, it makes me happy to hear feedback. And I have over a hundred! When I started this I only meant to indulge in a jalex lemon. **

**Anyways I'm done rambling for now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter; there wasn't as much angst as I thought there would be. Please review, all comments are appreciated (especially if you have ideas or requests for the story, but all reviews are appreciated no matter what). Thanks! **


	20. The Walk

When Alex woke up in the morning, she felt incredibly warm. The bed was surprisingly soft, and she had fallen asleep almost immediately and slept dreamlessly, much to her relief. She had been afraid that she would have horrible nightmares when she closed her eyes.

Groaning, she snuggled closer to whatever was keeping her warm and tried to doze off again. Unfortunately, her pillow was kind of hard and something hot was tickling her face. She mumbled something and shifted a little, trying to get more comfortable. Then, something began to move down her backside. Jolting awake, she was brought back to reality.

"Hey there," Justin said. Alex opened her eyes, and all of it pieced together. It was Justin's breath that she felt on her face, his arms were wrapped around her waist, and her "pillow" was Justin's bare chest. Lifting her head up, she blushed a little when she also realized that her leg was thrown over his hip. She was fully clothed, but he was only in his boxers.

"Huh," Alex said, her voice came out like a croak. She cleared her throat and lifted herself up on her elbows to look at Justin's face. Her mind was a little fuzzy. She remembered she kissed Justin, a lot. And after that they must have just fallen asleep. Strangely she had never really felt that tired. It must be this place, it just made her want to sleep and escape from everything that was happening.

Justin shook his head and smirked down at her. "Did somebody sleep well last night? I heard you snoring."

"I do not snore."

"How would you know? You're asleep."

"So? I don't snore!"

"Uh-huh," Justin said, pulling her face to his. He kissed her once. "Good morning."

"You should have started with that you know," Alex said, scrambling up to get out of bed. It was surprisingly difficult considering Justin had his arms around her, and the sheets were all tangled, and the bed was so big it took a lot just to make it to the edge of it.

"Where are you going?" Justin asked.

Alex stood on the cold marble floor and contemplated his question. He had a point, where was she going to go? She didn't know anything about where they were. She looked around the room. "Where are our clothes?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm wearing pajamas." Alex pinched the flannel pants. "Where did I get these?"

"The guard handed them to you last night, don't you remember?" Justin said.

"Oh yeah." Alex paused. "Then why are you wearing boxers?"

"Because I can." Justin sat up. "Are you unclear about any other details about last night?" Alex shook her head. "Good, now come here," He said and held his arms out. She scoffed at him.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I'm cold."

"Then sleep with a shirt on." Alex rolled her eyes but complied, climbing back into the bed and snuggling into him. They were silent for a few minutes before she spoke. "So, do you want to go out today?"

"Where?"

"I don't know, the Council said we go out as long as we were escorted by the guard."

Justin shrugged. "Sure we can go out. Being in here kind of feels like a prison cell anyways."

Alex looked around. "A very nice prison cell." She sighed. "I really hate that we have to be escorted like criminals."

"We're lucky we're getting the accommodations that we're getting."

"I know, I just hate the whole guard thing-" Alex said but she was cut off by Justin placing a hand over her mouth.

"They can hear us," He said.

"Mmmphhmmm," Alex said against his hand. He removed it. "I said: what?"

"They are monitoring our room," Justin said. "That's how they knew to give us pjs before we went to bed. They can hear us."

"Oh. Creepy." Alex said. "So if they can hear us, will they hear when I ask what the hell happened to our clothes?" She raised her voice and spoke in the direction of the door. "We kind of can't walk around town like this you know!"

"Alex!" Justin hissed, but then just rolled his eyes at her. He should have expected this. Then, to his surprise, the door clicked open and three guards came in, a pile of what looked like clothes. Alex stood up to go to them, since she was more appropriately dressed.

"Thanks," She said, and took the stack of clothes from them. Frowning, she glanced down at the pile. "These aren't ours."

"No, these are," A fourth guard approached and handed Alex the clothes she and Justin had been wearing before. "They have been freshly washed."

"You mean checked for some sort of evidence?" Justin asked from the other side of the room. The guard shrugged, and the four left, slamming the door shut behind them. Alex walked back over to Justin and dropped the clothes on the bed. She pulled off the first set, and Justin grabbed his.

The clothes were identical, except for the sizes, and for Alex instead of pants she had a skirt. The sets of clothes were both black, with the gold 'W' and 'C' embellished on the back of the black t-shirts. "Huh. Interesting." Alex said, looking at the clothes. "Kind of plain though."

Justin rolled his eyes. Of course she would be concerned about the fashion aspect of this.

Alex reached down and was about to pull off her t-shirt when she suddenly stopped and blushed.

"What?" Justin asked.

"Could you, you know, turn around?" Alex said.

"What? It's not like I've never see you naked," Justin said.

"Yeah, but-"Alex said, but realized she really didn't have an argument for that. "Fine." Then she stripped and quickly dressed while Justin did the same. Pulling her hair into a messy bun, Alex did a quick twirl.

"So, how do I look?"

Justin walked around the bed to her, and wrapped his arms around her waist before kissing her. "You look fine."

"Fine as in 'fine' or fine as in fiiinnneeee?" Alex asked.

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes!"

"Well, you look like the good fine, whatever one that was," Justin reassured her. Alex bit her lip and looked down at her outfit before turning to rummage through her old clothes. She grabbed the blue leggings she had worn yesterday and pulled it under her skirt.

"There," She said, smoothing the clothes. "This outfit has been Alex-i-fied."

Justin snorted. "Whatever works."

"Ok, let's go walk around." Alex took his hand and led him to the door. She pulled at the handle but it stayed shut. "Of course," She muttered, and knocked on the door. "Hello out there! We want to walk around!"

At first there was no response, but then they heard sounds of movement outside and then the door clicked and was pulled open by one of the guards. They said nothing, but motioned for them to exit the room. Alex and Justin stepped forward, and five guards stepped in behind them. Silent, but still there. They continued down the hall and the five guards followed quietly like shadows.

Once they reached the end of the hall, Justin stopped and turned to them. "Do you mind leading the way? I don't know my way around"

The group split and then regrouped in front of the two, and then began a leisurely pace out of the building and into the streets. The sun was bright, and it reflected off the marble. Justin and Alex blinked before beginning to follow the guard down the steps.

Suddenly Alex gripped Justin's arm. "Hey, Justin look! The Wizard Council!"

Justin turned his head and stopped as he saw three of the figures off to the side, huddled together and whispering to each other. _I wonder what they are saying. _

Suddenly, the group stopped abruptly and they cast expressionless glances over at the two of them. Justin and Alex stared back. Finally, one of the three took a step forward, and looked like he was about to approach them when one of the guards stepped in front, blocking the Council from view.

"Mr. and Ms. Russo, would you like to see the park?" The guard asked. Justin and Alex tore their eyes away from the direction of where the group had been to stare up at the guard. It was then Alex realized he was incredibly tall, and at the moment he was blocking the sun as well.

"Yeah, the park sounds good," Justin said. The guard nodded and took his position at the front of the group before leading the two away. They did not look back.

* * *

"Did you see them?" Alex asked as she and Justin returned to their room. She sat on the bed and let out a 'humph', as if she was tired from all the walking, which she probably was. Justin came and sat against the headboard.

"Yeah I did," He said.

"Wondered what that was about?"

"I have no idea," Justin said.

"I mean, what would they have done if they had approached us? And why was the guard guy stopping him, I thought they worked for them?"

"They weren't stopping him," Justin corrected. "They were stopping us."

"That's not what it looked like."

"That's because they are very good at their jobs."

"Whatever." Alex sighed and pushed herself up so she could lean against Justin. "It was still weird."

"Yeah," Justin said. He suddenly felt very tired, but he wasn't exactly surprised. They had been walking around all day, and had only stopped to buy food from a vendor before continuing on their way. The guard must have showed them the entire town, because they didn't return to the room until sunset.

"I wonder if we'll be allowed out tomorrow," Alex mused.

"What more can we possibly see?" Justin asked, closing his eyes.

"I wonder how many witnesses they are getting."

"I don't know, they said they would be pulling people from the streets, as well as people already involved."

"I wonder if they will interview any regular mortals."

"Maybe." Justin yawned.

"Are you seriously tired?"

Justin looked down at her. "Aren't you?"

"A little."

"Ok." Justin leaned his head back.

"But I don't want to sleep just yet," Alex said.

Justin cracked one eye open. "Of course you don't. What do you want to do?"

There was a pause before Alex spoke again. "I can think of something."

Justin half smiled, but didn't open his eyes. "Really?"

"Mmhmm." Alex shifted, and he expected to move closer to kiss him. But then he felt her leave the bed. He opened his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to ask the guards if they have any cards we can play a game with."

Justin got off the bed and walked over to her. Before she could react, he tackled her onto the bed and pinned her beneath him. "Was that really your idea?"

"Yeah it was," She tried to sound innocent but he could tell she was teasing him. He grinned and leaned down to kiss her. She fake-struggled.

"Justin when did you become strong?"

"Those action figure boxes are heavier than they appear."

Alex laughed. "Yeah, right."

"Seriously," He said and kissed her so she couldn't think of a comeback.

She grinned once, and then she sighed and closed her eyes.

"What?" He asked. "What's wrong?"

"What if this doesn't work?" She asked. "What if I lose you?"

"You won't."

"How do you know that?"

"Whatever happens, we'll think of something."

"Justin, that's not always going to work," Alex said.

"Alex, it's going to be a long day tomorrow if every second we're worrying. We can't control what kind of witnesses that will testify."

"Fine, I won't worry." She leaned up to kiss him. "See? Perfectly fine."

"You are such a bad liar."

"Really? Usually I'm a really good liar." Alex wrapped her arms around his neck, then moved her left arm down. "This," She said, tapping his shirt, "Has got to go."

He obliged, then pressed his mouth against hers. They continued to kiss until Alex stopped suddenly. "Wait, wait," She said.

"What's wrong?"

"You said they can monitor our room."

He glanced at her.

"Which means they can hear us."

He frowned, and then shrugged and tried to kiss her again. "Justin!" She pushed against his chest. "That doesn't bother you?"

"Well." He kissed her neck. "At least this way they'll know we'll really love each other."

"I-" She swallowed when his hand moved to her hips and pulled her closer to him. "Justin come on they can hear us!"

"They put two teenagers in love in a room with two large beds. They had to figure something would happen."

"You know what? Fine. But if it is really awkward in court because of this it's all your fault."

Justin smiled and kissed her on the lips. "Of course."

**I just can't help it, I love writing cute jalex moments. Well the trial is almost here… **


	21. Nightmares and Questions

The night before the trial Alex was plagued by nightmares. She couldn't help it, couldn't escape from it, the one night she needed to. The entire atmosphere had darkened even before she and Justin had gone to bed. The day had been fine, mostly the two of them cooped up in the room (Alex had actually asked the guards for a deck of cards), and in the morning it hadn't seemed so bad. But once the day began to settle into late afternoon, a heavy pressure of anxiety began to weigh down on the two of them.

They tried to keep the mood light, telling jokes, and trying desperately to keep their minds off of what was going to happen in the morning. It was inevitable. Eventually they succumbed to it. They sat there quietly on the bed, Justin's arms holding her to his chest, for about an hour before actually going to sleep. By that point, trying to get rid of the tension had been impossible.

Alex squeezed her eyes shut and tried to roll over in her sleep. She found that she couldn't, because Justin was holding on to her. At another time, she would have smiled, but she was too stressed to even try. She gripped him tighter. She was so afraid of what the Council would say. What if she lost him?

She thought back to when Justin had told her he didn't love her. She remembered how she had felt like her heart had been torn out, and how broken she had felt. This was worse, because then there had been a chance Justin would return to her. This time, if the Council chose against them, there would be no going back.

The thought of losing Justin forever made her want to die.

She couldn't lose him. How could she live if she did?

Opening her eyes, she gave up on sleep for the moment. The room was completely dark and she could barely make out Justin's face. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully, his breathing was even and his expression was calm. She reached out a hand to trace his face since she couldn't see it. She traced the muscles in his jaw, and then began to make little patterns on his chest. He still continued to sleep, and she felt a little envious of that.

Closing her eyes, she laid her head back down on his shoulder and tried desperately to think of happy thoughts, but all that came to her mind was "What if…?"

She managed to drift off into an uncomfortable sleep, where figures in hooded cloaks chased her down endless marble hallways, chanting words she couldn't understand as she ran screaming for Justin.

She gasped and woke up again. She could tell that at least a couple of hours had passed, because she could see Justin's face more clearly. He looked almost awake; his eyes were on the ceiling. She poked him.

"Hey," She whispered. "You awake?"

He turned to her; his hair was slightly mussed from sleeping. "Yeah," He whispered back.

"I can't sleep."

"Me neither."

"You were sleeping just fine before."

"Yeah that was before I started dreaming."

Alex sighed. "Yeah I had nightmares too."

Justin scoffed. "I said dreams, not nightmares. The J-man does not have nightmares."

"If they were dreams why are you awake?" Alex asked.

"Because."

"Because why…?"

"Because those dreams made me sad."

Confused, Alex propped her head up on one hand so she could look at him easier. He was staring at the ceiling again, his thumb tracing a line down her spine and back up again. She shivered slightly, but refused to get distracted because she wanted answers. She waited, and finally, he spoke.

"I had dreams of us," He said quietly.

"And that made you said?"

"In all of those dreams, they were scarily accurate. I could remember everything clearly. Except, you were all different. Every time I reached out to hold you or kiss you, you turned to smoke."

There was a moment of silence as Alex took it in. "So you did have nightmares."

He turned to give her what she assumed was an exasperated look. "No I did not. I had dreams that made me sad."

"Aw, so you're sensitive, how cute," Alex kissed him on the forehead. "It's ok, I'm right here."

"That's not funny Alex," He said. "It was really scary."

"Aha! A nightmare!"

"No, not a nightmare. It's just that they were scarily close to how I feel right now!" He hissed in the darkness.

Alex swallowed and became serious again. "It's ok Justin. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere," She soothed, and ran a hand down his arm.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm fine," He said, but she noticed his grip tightened on her slightly.

There was another moment of silence before he broke it. "So, what were your nightmares about?"

"Running," Alex said, and yawned. She actually felt tired now. And safer.

"Really? I didn't know you could run."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Shut up. Just because I don't do it in P.E. doesn't mean I can't."

"Well it was in a dream…" Justin said, and she could tell he was smirking.

"It was really scary," She said, but she was beginning to close her eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm right here."

"Yeah I totally trust you to fight off a group of black-cloaked monsters."

"I'm going to ignore the sarcasm in that statement and pretended that you meant it."

"Justin, go to sleep." Alex yawned again.

"You're the one who wanted to know if I was awake."

"My first mistake."

"Really? Is that how you feel?"

"Justin, what will it take to get you to sleep?"

"Hmm," He pretended to think about it, and then he surprised Alex by rolling over and pinning her beneath him. He bent down and kissed her on the lips, softly at first but then began to add more pressure. When she felt like she was going to explode, he pulled back and grinned. "There, now I can sleep." And then he flopped back down and pulled her to him to assume their original positions.

Alex pouted. "But now I can't."

Closing his eyes, he merely said, "Go to sleep Alex."

She groaned but closed her eyes anyways. After a couple of minutes, they were both asleep. Alex expected more nightmares, but instead she got only one. She was running again, down the hallway, but she couldn't tell who she was being chased by. All she knew was that she was searching for something. For what, she didn't know, couldn't know, but it didn't matter. Eventually, the hallway dissolved, and everything went black as Alex was allowed to sleep peacefully for the next couple of hours.

* * *

_He was back to the night before seeing the Wizard Council. They were already finished, and his arms were wrapped around her like they were now. She felt so warm and real, that at first he didn't realize he was dreaming. But then, like all the others, she started to slip away. He tried to grab onto her, but she was fading, like smoke, into the dark night. He called her name, but received no reply. He could only watch her disappear once more, as he felt completely alone, and sad, just like he did at the end of all the other dreams. _

_Yet despite the fact that he knew it was a dream, it didn't help him not be affected by it. He couldn't help it, these dreams were bugging him. All he wanted was some sleep, and instead he got his worst fear, over and over: Losing Alex. He lay back on the bed and waited for another dream to start. His mind didn't disappoint. _

_This time, they were back at the room in the courthouse. He was trying to get her to tell him what she was thinking. This time though, he was having an out of body experience, and he watched himself kiss her. _

_He waited impatiently at the end of the bed for the dream to finish. Because once the dream finished, another one would begin. And another. And he was sick and tired of it. He just wanted it to be time for him to wake up. _

_He watched as Alex turned into smoke, as he tried to reach out and grab her. She floated away, just like always, untouchable, and untraceable. And once again, he felt alone. _

_

* * *

_

Gasping, Justin woke up for the second time that night. He groaned and tried to go back to sleep as quickly as possible, but first he had to make sure of one thing. He looked down, and sure enough he was still holding Alex. She looked pretty even when she was sleeping. Her hair was in disarray, her eyes closed tightly, and he could see a faint crease in her forehead. Her mouth was slightly parted, and he could hear her breathing gently.

Justin bent down to gently kiss her forehead. For a second, he was scared that she would disappear, but when he made contact with her skin he could feel that she was very real, and when he kissed her she didn't go away. This time, she was real.

Relief flooded him at the same time dread coiled in her stomach. For now, she was here, but just how long would Alex stay real for?

He looked down at her once more. "Alex, I love you," He whispered, before closing his eyes again and waiting for the new dreams to take him over.

* * *

The morning was silent. They both woke up slowly, not wanting to acknowledge that this day was happening. For a few minutes at least, they were able to pretend that this morning was like any morning. They were going to wake up to their mom calling for them to go to school. They would wake up in their normal bedrooms, and would be able to walk downstairs and look across the breakfast table and know that the person they saw wouldn't be going away any time soon.

As Justin woke up fully, a question came to his mind. It was one that he had never considered before, and would never want to.

What if he had never, really, loved Alex? Would all of this happen? Would he have been happier?

But even as those questions came to his mind, he realized that no, he could never have not loved Alex. Somehow, someway, they balanced each other out. There was no way another girl could have been meant for him. She would have had to have been an Alex-copy. And he would have risked everything for that girl. So, no, he would not have been happier. He truly did love Alex.

Of course, he had already known that, but with this realization, the answers to the questions he asked himself only reaffirmed that he did. And for some reason, it made him feel a little better, despite whatever this day would bring.

The door opened, and the guards walked in with a new pile of clothes identical to the ones they had given Alex and Justin yesterday. They deposited them on the edge of the bed and almost left the room silently before turning around.

"Miss Russo, it is advised that you stick to the dress code and wear what we have provided for you."

Alex merely nodded as the door shut.

* * *

They were standing outside the door again. Only this time, Justin could feel his own nerves creeping in. Alex was a mess. She was gripping his hand tightly, and he could have sword she was shaking, but that could have just been him.

"One more time," Justin whispered to her. "Are you ready?"

Alex looked at him, and then leaned up to kiss him once before settling back. "Yeah. I'm ready. You?"

"Yeah," Justin said.

The group of six came walking back out silently just like last time. Only this time around they actually acknowledged Alex and Justin's existence by nodding once in their direction before pulling the door open with the same eeriness as yesterday. They walked in, and Justin and Alex were ushered forward by the guard, who this time escorted them in and took their places lining the back wall of the room.

Justin and Alex walked down the aisle. The two chair from before were gone, and they were led by an elf to the first bench in the first row. They took their seats, and cast glances to the other side of the aisle, where a group of people sat, staring at the curiously. They recognized some of them: their parents, Max, and Chief Green, but the others were simply strangers.

The Council Leader stood, and the elves came rushing forward carrying the podium and a single chair, which was placed beside the podium. Then the elves disappeared. Justin managed to see that this time they exited off a small door tucked in the corner of the room.

The Council Leader approached the podium, and cleared his throat before speaking. "Among this group of people is a mixture of witnesses. Some have been in contact with Justin and Alexandra Russo; some have merely been given an overview of the case. Some are wizards, some are mortals."

A murmur went through the crowd at the last words.

"Do not worry; they will forget everything after this is through."

The crowd went silent again.

"Now," The Council Leader gestured to the first witness. "We may begin."

**I know, I'm evil, making you wait for the next chapter for the whole trial. But put it this way, the story will last longer (yay?) Anyways, the story is almost done, about 2-4 chapters (depending on if I write an epilogue or not). **


	22. The Witnesses

A split second.

An intake of breath.

A slight shifting in the seat.

That's how long it took before the first witness was called up. But to Alex, it felt like everything had been slowed down. She could see clearly every detail that was happening: the way the Council Leader was tapping his forefinger rhythmically against the podium, how one of the witnesses (perhaps a mortal) kept glancing around nervously while chewing her lip, probably wondering what she had gotten herself into.

Alex couldn't help it; she was anxious, scared, and impatient at the same time. She wanted the trial to be over, but at the same time she was afraid that if the trial was over, it would also mean that she and Justin were over. Her stomach was churning, her head was pounding, and the entire world was still.

A split second felt like days.

But despite the fact that she knew her own mind was over-exaggerating time, she did nothing to try and calm herself down. The rational part of her was gone. All she could do was panic.

"The first witness will be Theresa Russo."

Alex felt herself sigh with relief. This couldn't be so bad. Then she tensed up again. Maybe her mother would think her child being in love with her other child was disgusting. Maybe she would say it would be better if things returned to normal. She was a mother after all, and what mother wanted this from her children?

She could only wish her mother knew that tearing them apart was far worse than keeping them together.

Theresa stood, and glanced once at her two children. She and Alex locked eyes, and Theresa smiled slightly. Alex half smiled too, before her mother turned to continue down the aisle. She sat in the chair slowly, and Alex saw her look at Jerry.

"Now, Mrs. Russo, you are a mortal, correct?" The Council Leader asked.

"Correct," Theresa said. The crowd exchanged looks with each other.

"But you married a wizard, and are completely aware of the Wizarding world?" The Leader quickly added. Theresa nodded, and there was peace again.

"Now, tell me about your children. They are your two eldest?"

"Yes. Justin is my oldest son. He's very bright, loves school. Alex is my eldest daughter."

"Tell us more about Alex."

"I can't."

"And why is that, Mrs. Russo?"

Alex could have sworn she saw a quick flash of something in her mother's eyes that she only saw rarely: suspicion and anger.

"Because," Theresa said clearly. "There was a spell that my two kids used that apparently made it so that Alex was no longer my daughter. Therefore I don't remember her."

There was a loud outburst from the crowd. This confused Alex slightly. Hadn't the Council Leader said that all these people would be given an overview of the case? She glanced once at the council, but of course their stoic faces revealed nothing.

"They didn't tell them why," Justin whispered, slightly horrified.

Alex turned to him. "What?"

"They didn't tell them what spell we used, or why. They just told them we used dark magic." Alex could see Justin looked a little pale. "They're going to think we're monsters."

Alex gripped his hand, which seemed to be shaking a little. "It's going to be ok," She said, even though she felt so dizzy and nauseous she wanted to throw up right there.

"Silence!" The Council was standing, and the crowd went completely quiet as soon as they did. The council seated themselves again, but no one dared to move.

"Now, Mrs. Russo. Would you like to say anything else?"

"I would just like to say that I understand," Theresa said.

"What is it exactly that you understand?"

"My husband Jerry gave up his powers to marry me. My child gave up being mine to be with the one she loved. I'm saying I understand what it is to want to sacrifice things."

"So you think that they truly did it out of love?"

"Absolutely."

"Very well, you may be seated. The next witness will be the father of these two children, Jerry Russo."

Jerry stood, and as he and Theresa passed each other on the aisle, their hands touched slightly for reassurance. Jerry took his seat without looking at his kids, and Alex became even more worried. How would her father, who knew exactly what dark magic was, feel about all of this?

"Now, Mr. Russo, we would also like to ask you a few questions," The Council Leader began. Jerry looked up at him and shook his head.

"No, that won't be necessary?"

There was a pause, another one of those split-second moments that made Alex want to scream.

"Could you please….clarify that statement Mr. Russo?"

"I meant that you don't need to question me," Jerry said evenly. "I will have the same answers as my wife."

"Even the statement about why your children may have the committed the crime of doing dark magic?"

Alex's heart pounded as she waited to hear her father's response.

"Yes. I agree."

"Very well Mr. Russo. You may be seated."

As Jerry took his seat, Alex wanted to smile. She couldn't believe it. She felt so…elated. She hadn't known till them how much her parent's approval until that moment. But they did. They approved. They wanted her to be happy.

She had never loved her parents more than in that moment. They understood her and Justin. They didn't feel sick from their own children. How could she not be happy from that?

She was brought back to Earth by the Council Leader questioning another witness. With a gasp, she realized it was Max. She side-glanced at Justin, and saw that he was actually…laughing?

She gave him a confused look, but he just shook his head and gestured towards their brother. Alex tuned back in to the trial and started to pay attention.

"Now Max, how long have you known about your siblings being in love?"

Max shrugged. "I dunno."

"You don't know?"

"A while, I guess," Max said. "I don't really know."

"Justin stated in a police report that you gave him the idea to use the spell. Do you recall this incident?"

Max squinted, trying to remember. Finally he said, "No. Not really."

"You don't remember this?"

"I mean maybe I told him to use magic to fix his problems. I don't know, I mean, how am I supposed to remember? I thought I wasn't supposed to remember stuff that was related to Alice or whatever her name was."

The Council Leader visibly sighed. "You see Max, the way the spell works is that it erases everyone's memory, except those who are involved. Since you suggested using a spell to Justin, you are partially involved, and therefore you may have some recollection of certain events pertaining to your sister."

Max nodded, looking like he was taking it all in. But Alex knew her brother, and she knew that even if he did understand what the Council Leader had just said, there was no way that it actually mattered. He didn't let her down.

Max merely shrugged after a couple of seconds of thought. "If you say so."

"So…" There was another pause. "You're saying you don't remember?"

"Isn't that what I said before, right? Yeah. I don't remember. I'm hungry though. Do you think one of those guys sitting over there could make me a sandwich?"

Startled, the Leader stared with a baffled expression down at the youngest Russo. "You want one of the members of the Council to make you some lunch?"

"Well, aren't you guys supposed to be super powerful?" Max gestured to the Council. "So I don't see why one of you couldn't conjure up a PB and J if I really wanted one."

"I- Can we please stay on topic Mr. Russo?"

"Never mind." Max hopped up from the chair. "I'll just ask my mom." And with that he returned to his seat, leaving behind a very confused Council. A few of the witnesses laughed quietly, but most were afraid to anger the Council further.

The Leader sighed again, and shook his head before mumbling something to himself. Then he called up Chief Green as the next witness. He said nothing special, he mostly just reported the facts in a monotone voice that failed to reveal what side he was on. When questions about how he felt, he merely said that he had no opinion about "teenage affairs". Alex felt somewhat grateful. After dragging the poor Chief through the ordeal of the trial, she was glad that he wasn't automatically against them. He wasn't standing for them either, but she hadn't expected that.

"I don't understand," Alex whispered to Justin. "Why didn't they just start with him? He could have cleared up everything about the trial."

Justin waited until there was enough noise so he could speak. "The Council is very smart. They'd figure they'd try to appeal to the witnesses emotionally first."

"So they are biased?"

Justin shrugged. "I don't know. It's kind of hard to tell."

"I think they are."

"Maybe. They are just doing their jobs though. We did use black magic."

Alex glared at him. "What are you saying?"

"Nothing, just trying to look at it from their point of view."

Alex wanted to say more, but the next witness was called forward. They didn't really say anything; they mostly kept to the neutral side like Chief Green. When the first real mortal (besides Theresa) was brought up, and the crowd began to murmur again, Alex spoke to Justin again.

"So what do you think? This whole trial was a waste? We shouldn't have tried because the Council will punish us anyways?"

"That is not what I'm saying!" Justin hissed. "There's always hope."

Alex instantly felt bad about making him bad. This could be their last few moments together; she wanted it to be as good as possible. "Sorry."

Justin softened. "It's ok."

The mortal, who was clearly scared (they were completely pale, and they were shaking so much that the chair was vibrating against the floor) refused to answer any of the questions, and kept shaking their head and looking like they wanted to vomit. They were escorted out by the elves after a couple of minutes, and the next witness was called up.

Immediately, Alex felt dread coil in her stomach as the women took the stand. There was something about her coldness, the way she moved, and how every piece of hair was piled into a neat little bun that bothered her. She had a bad feeling.

"Ms. Cooper," The Council Leader said. "Tell us about how you feel about these two teens using dark magic."

"Honestly? Disgusted." She aimed a look directly at Alex and Justin. Some of the people in the crowd nodded, others frowned in disapproval.

"And why is that Ms. Cooper?"

"Because. They used dark magic. Plain and simple. Why should they be getting this kind of trial when everything is in black and white? This whole thing is absurd."

"So you don't believe in doing things for love?"

This time, the lady aimed a cold glance directly at the Council Leader. "I believe in not making citizens have to perform such an asinine duty as being a witness in a trial that they do not feel should have occurred."

There was a long, awkward moment, in which the Council and Ms. Cooper simply stared each other down. Eventually, the Leader just nodded, and Ms. Cooper stood. Instead of returning to her seat, however, she clutched her purse and left the room.

After her, several more witnesses were questioned. The response was mixed. Some felt that the original punishment of Justin and Alex had been fair, others wanted worse. Some felt that the children were naive and should just be released, and one particularly nasty man felt that Justin was a pervert taking advantage of his sister. Alex had hugged Justin then, and told him how far off the man was.

Overall, the people were neutral. It was clear that they didn't want to be the ones to make the decision. Alex wondered if this was how the trials always worked out, or if people really were this indifferent.

Of course, this also meant that the decision would be left up to the Council, which made Alex very afraid. She didn't trust them, didn't think they would make the right the decision, and was scared of what would happen if it was all up to them.

A few more witnesses came up, but once again they were neutral.

The second-to-last was another scared-out-of-their mind mortal, and they passed out before making it to the chair. They were carried out by the elves.

Finally the last man came to sit at the chair. He was a tall, thin man with thinning gray hair and piercing green eyes that popped out because everything else about him washed out: his skin tone, his clothes, even his voice that wavered after every word.

The Council Leader cleared his throat before asking questions. "Mr. Graye."

Alex nearly burst out laughing. That was his last name? Graye? How ironic.

"Yesss," Mr. Graye dragged out the work shakily.

"What would your opinion be of this situation?"

"Well." Mr. Graye took a moment to compose his thoughts. "I have watched and studied everyone in this trial: The witnesses, both mortal and of the Wizarding World, the Russo children in question, the Council, and even you, Council Leader. I have sat there in my seat, thinking of what I would say. Thinking of how this case made me feel. Thinking of a fair answer to your question. 'What is my opinion?'"

"And?"

"I have come to the conclusion that I am too conflicted to give you a proper answer. On one hand, the children have used dark magic. But then again, many people do crazy things for love. Do not forget Council Leader that I know of your past and of a young Miss Jillian Rose."

The crowd began to whisper to each other. Alex and Justin exchanged wide-eyed glances at the disturbance Mr. Graye's words had caused. When Alex looked at the Council Leader, she noticed that he seemed slightly flushed, but overall remained composed. After several tense seconds, he spoke again.

"Mr. Graye I would ask you to comment on the trial, not…other things."

Mr. Graye nodded to himself. "Very well. I was merely stating on how I felt about the situation and why I am so conflicted. But I guess to make my point, I would have to say that I am old. I have lived through much, seen much, and I can clearly look at both sides of this trial. I can see the right and wrong of it on both ends. In the end, it will come down to you, Council Leader, because I can truly see how there is neither right nor wrong in this. The question is not what kind of punishment these children should receive, but whether or not you will remain as impartial as I have."

"Are you questioning my ability to make a proper judgment?"

Mr. Graye was silent. Finally, he said, "No."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"Yes," He said. "That is all I have to say."

"Very well Mr. Graye, you may be seated."

Mr. Graye produced a cane, and then slowly walked himself back down the aisle. The crowd on the seat in his row moved aside quickly for him, and when he sat, he looked very pleased with himself, and Alex noticed now that he no longer seemed so feeble. Maybe physically, but there was something about the way that he knew exactly what he had caused in the court that made him seem so strong.

The crowd was silent again, and Alex turned her attention back to the front of the room.

The Council Leader seemed to be deep in thought. He had not signaled for the elves to clear the podium yet. Instead, he was staring down at it, his brow furrowed, as he seemed to be working out a difficult problem in his head. Finally, still looking down, he raised his hand and the elves came rushing forward.

Once the podium was cleared, he walking slowly to his seat, still pondering. The Council stood in unison and waited.

At last, the Council Leader stood as well, and raised his head to address the room.

"My brothers and I now need to think and to analyze what we have heard today. We will walk into the next room," He gestured to a door on the right, " And decide on our ruling. You may stand and walk around the courtroom if you must. Food will be brought to you. Do not leave this room."

With that, the trial filed out in a straight line to the door. The guards slid down from the back and stood at all doors, guarding them.

Alex and Justin stood, but they didn't have to move because Theresa, Jerry, and Max found them first.

"Mom! Dad!" Alex and Justin hugged their parents. Despite the fact that they clearly didn't remember Alex, Jerry and Theresa hugged back tightly.

"It's going to be ok," Theresa soothed.

"No matter what, you are still our children," Jerry added. Max just nodded at them, preoccupied with the food that was being carried in.

"Mom," Max tugged on Theresa's shirt and pointed. Theresa sighed but nodded. "Come on, let's go eat."

"I'm not hungry," Alex said, clutching her stomach. Theresa looked at her, then hugged her once more. "You two sit down here, we'll bring you something."

Alex sat next to Justin and leaned onto his shoulder. "I'm scared."

"Yeah."

"Are you?"

"Of course. We're going to be ok though."

"How can you know that?"

"I don't, I'm just being optimistic."

"Thanks."

"What?"

Alex sighed. "Nothing. I'm just anxious."

"Hopefully they won't take too long."

"Hopefully they'll decide on something good."

Justin kissed her on the forehead. "I love you. No matter what."

Alex lifted her head up so she could look at him straight in the eye. "No matter what," she agreed.

**There you go, the trial. But what will be the decision? 0_0 **

**Anyone have any opinions? I already know what is going to happen, but it's nice to hear what you think. **


	23. Final Choice

The wait was agonizing.

Like before, every second passed achingly slow, the time dragging on to a point where it seemed to stand still, and every breath taken seemed like it took a lifetime before it was exhaled again.

Alex jiggled her foot impatiently as she glanced at the clock for the hundredth time that minute. Although the clock probably had shifted closer to the five, it looked like it had stayed where it was.

It was so frustrating. It was like this room was meant to antagonize those in it. The elves danced by like a blur. For them, time moved at hyper speed. But for everyone else, it looked like time was mocking them by moving even more slowly.

By now, the food had vanished (probably courtesy of Max, he had devoured half the table), and the witnesses were seated. Every so often of them would glance towards Justin and Alex. The Russo family was the only one still standing. Jerry, Theresa, and Max stood in the aisle beside the bench that Justin and Alex sat in, too anxious to return to their seats.

It had been two hours since the council had gone into the other room to deliberate. Alex wondered how long they were supposed to be in there. When she asked Justin, she got a very unsatisfying answer.

"Five hours," He said.

"What?"

"Five hours. If the council is in there for longer than five hours, they have to send everyone home and continue the deliberation the next day."

"Five hours?" Alex hissed. "Ugh. How are we supposed to wait that long!"

"Well put it this way. They are being thorough and looking at this from all sides."

"Or they're back there having a feast and watching us suffering for an answer impatiently," Alex mumbled.

Justin cracked a smile. "Only you are the impatient one Alex."

Alex crossed her arms. "You should be. It's been forever."

Justin rolled his eyes. "Patience is a virtue."

"I don't care what it is. Waiting sucks."

"Well how bout we play a game?" Justin asked. Alex scoffed.

"Like what? Rock, paper, scissors?" Alex held out her hand in a fist then bumped it against Justin's palm. "There. I won."

"My hand was paper."

"No, paper would've been palms down," Alex argued back.

"Fine. Rock, paper, scissors…" Justin made a scissor with his two fingers and pretended to cut Alex's hand. "Now I won."

"And this is totally lame."

Justin rolled his eyes again. "Yeah but it wasted five minutes. And now we have five minutes less to wait."

"Why are you being so optimistic? Just admit you are as bored as I am."

"Just because I'm not a pessimist like you doesn't mean you need to assume what I am feelings. I am rather relaxed right now."

Alex looked at him in shock. He was relaxed? Did he not feel the tension in the room? Was he oblivious the slow-moving clock?

Maybe he had cracked.

Yeah, that was it. He had gone completely insane.

"What?" Justin asked, taking in her bewildered expression. "What's the look for?"

"How are you relaxed?"

"Easy."

"Explain."

"Well, I figure, for now at least I know what's happening. We're sitting here. That's it. But the second they come out of that room everything is going to change. So I'd say right now, I am very relaxed."

Alex frowned as she considered that. "Yeah I guess that makes sense."

"You see?"

"It still doesn't make the time move any faster."

Justin sighed. "They'll make a decision eventually. They can't stay in there forever."

"It's going to be alright sweetie," Theresa interjected.

"I don't know," Alex said.

"We're not bad at you," Theresa said. "I meant what I said during the trial."

"Me too," Jerry said.

"So did I," Max said. The he paused. "But I still didn't get my sandwich. I'm kind of angry at that."

"Oh Max I'll make you a sandwich when this is over," Theresa soothed.

"A sandwich later doesn't feed my tummy now."

"It will soon."

"Anyways," Jerry said. "Whatever happens, you are still our children. And we'll love you no matter what."

"Even though- even though we love each other?" Alex whispered.

"Honey, we just want you to be happy," Theresa said. "And if that means you need Justin, then…we'll just have to learn to live with it."

"And besides it's not like you're related now," Jerry pointed out. Theresa glared at him. "What? It's true."

"It was the only way," Justin said.

Jerry nodded. "Well, even though I can't remember Alex being my little girl, I do know that if I had a daughter I would rather she was with someone I trust. Even though I would never want to pair her with my son, I guess she could have picked someone I wouldn't have liked."

"Thanks, Dad."

"So, does this mean that Justin actually has a girlfriend?" Max said.

"It was possible!" Justin said.

Max shrugged. "If you say so."

Theresa rolled her eyes. "Justin is a very handsome young man who can have anyone he wanted."

"Yeah but he's already with someone so what's the point of that?" Max asked.

"Don't think too hard son you'll hurt yourself," Jerry said and patted Max's head. "All you need to know is Alex and Justin love each other."

"Ok."

"Hey Alex, we managed to kill thirty minutes," Justin said. Alex glanced at the clock, and noticed the hand had actually moved a little.

"Ugh. Finally," She said.

"I wonder what these people will do after this," Theresa asked, turning around to glance at the witnesses, who were all quiet and staring directly ahead now.

"Probably just go on with their lives," Jerry said.

"It's weird that this won't affect them at all," Justin said.

"Maybe it will a little." Theresa glanced at the again.

"If anything it will give them a different perspective on love."

"We hope," Alex said. "Or they're just disgusted by it."

"Who cares? We're not related anymore."

"I just hope that they'll keep us together," Alex said. "No matter what the punishment."

Justin leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Alex, pulling her closer. He leaned in so he could whisper in her ear.

"They can't keep me from you," He said softly. Yet despite that she heard the resolved in his voice. "No matter what. I will find a way to find my way back to you."

"Promise."

"I promise."

"So do I," Alex said. "They can't keep us apart. We'll make it impossible."

Justin made a sound of agreement in the back of his throat before kissing her chastely on the cheek and pulling back.

Jerry and Theresa were looking away, keeping their expressions blank. Max looked disgusted, but he probably would've been grossed out by any couple anyways.

Alex sighed. She knew it would take a long time for her parents to accept.

But at least they were trying, and that meant a lot to her. She could only hope that they would see that their love wasn't bad and one day they could truly accept it for what it was without having to pretend they didn't mind.

It was quiet again in the room. It was almost eerie, but everyone had fallen back into their own minds, and no one noticed. The rest of the Russo family sat in the bench beside Justin and Alex. Everyone was lost in thought, or just clearly spacing out.

It was for this reason that everyone heard the subtle click of the door as it opened silently. The entire room shifted to watch as the Council glided in soundlessly. Their feet didn't even make a sound as they moved across the floor to their seats. They kept their heads down, their hands clasped in front of them, and the hoods of their robes pulled up over their heads. They seated themselves in the chairs.

Then the Council Leader walked in. The door shut behind him as he took long strides to his chair, never pausing until he reached his destination. His hands stayed locked by his sides, and when he sat he stared thoughtfully at the crowd.

Then he stood, and pulled his hood back. The rest of the Council rose and removed their hoods as well. Their hands switched to hang on their sides like the leader. They did not stare at the crowd like he did, but over them, almost as if they weren't going to acknowledge the presence of the people in the room at all.

The Council Leader stepped forward, but this time to elves came to bring him his podium. He merely stood in front of the room, commanding an authority that kept the room silent.

Alex grabbed Justin's hand, and he gripped hers tightly.

The Council Leader stood for a few seconds before he actually spoke. Unlike before, when he had seemed human at least, he now stood like stone like the other Council members behind him. His voice was low, yet still caught everyone's attention abruptly.

"We," He dragged out his words, "Have come to a decision."

Alex's heart pounded as she waited for his words. She was silently screaming to please let them allow her to keep Justin.

"We have decided," The Council Leader stopped. Alex wondered if he was doing it on purpose. Or maybe it was because he was like stone in thoughts as well. Unmoving, or moving very slowly.

"Young Mr. Russo," Here he actually moved, tilting his head ever so slightly in Justin's direction. "He will have a choice."

Alex's eyes widened, and she tried to look at Justin's face, but he gave away nothing. He wasn't stone, but he wasn't going to reveal his emotions. On his face anyway. Alex could feel his tension in his hand.

"Mr. Russo will be able to decide. The penalty of using dark magic is this: He, along with Ms. Russo, will be stripped of all of his magic, and allowed to live a mortal life and do whatever he pleases."

Alex tried to sense if Justin reacted to losing his powers, but she couldn't feel any difference in him.

"Or," The Council Leader continued. "He can keep his magic. But when he comes of age, he must become a member of the Council."

Immediately the crowd began to whisper. Eyes darted to where Justin sat, then back to the Council. Alex would have gasped if she hadn't been so frozen with anxiety.

"Justin?" She whispered.

The Council was staring at him now, waiting for his response. His eyes were closed now, as he considered the possibilities. Alex knew what he would choose. The Council, of course. It would be his chance to be an incredibly powerful wizard. It was something he had worked all his life for. To be the best wizard that he could.

Of course the Council would take notice of him. How could they not?

Still, Justin was silent. Alex looked over at him, slightly panicked. What was wrong? Why was it taking him so long to decide?

The Council was unfazed. She wondered if they were impressed that Justin was taking this ultimatum seriously, or if they were annoyed. Or if they just didn't care.

But they had to. After all, there was a possible new member sitting right in front of them, and they weren't reacting. What was wrong?

Alex gently poked him. "Justin? Are you ok?"

Justin didn't respond, his brow just furrowed further. He was so deep in thought he couldn't even feel her.

Alex gripped his hand reassuringly. "I'm fine with whatever you choose. It's going to be ok."

Justin relaxed then, and she felt him return to the room. Everyone was waiting anxiously in their seats, wanting to know what he would say.

"I would like to thank you for your generosity," Justin said quietly. "It is very kind of you to offer this kind of opportunity."

The Council said nothing, but it didn't seem to affect Justin.

"But," Justin said. "I won't be accepting your offer. I will join Alex in an average, mortal life."

The witnesses began to talk again, but they were silenced quickly. Alex again looked for any sign of emotion from the Council, but they still were expressionless.

"Very well then," The Council Leader said. He held out his palm openly, and the elves rushed forward to place a black wand in his hand. He raised it, and pointed it directly at Justin. "From here on out, you, Justin Russo, are hereby stripped of your powers indefinitely."

A blue light burst from the wand, and Alex held Justin's hand tightly. Then the light was gone, and the Leader lowered his hand. Justin exhaled, and Alex felt the stress leave him.

Without any pause, even though the crowd was now talking loudly, the Council Leader said, "This trial is over."

The Council stood, and they glided out just as quietly as if nothing had happened.

**Well, the story is almost over. Maybe 1-2 chapters left, depending on whether or not I write an epilouge. **


	24. The End

The way back was quiet.

Alex didn't know why, but for some reason what had just happened had struck them in such a way that no one could speak. Maybe it was some kind of trauma, but for whatever the reason, neither the Russos nor Chief Green felt a need to speak. The group of six exited the building as silently as they could.

The witnesses were doing enough talking for them.

As they left, they stopped and stared, pointing out and whispering none to quietly to each other. Alex did her best to ignore them.

Justin was holding her hand, but she barely felt it. She couldn't feel anything. For some reason, the entire experience had numbed her. She would have felt afraid, but she couldn't even process fear.

It wasn't until they were back home and Chief Green said his quiet goodbyes that something dawned on Alex that happened before. Where was she supposed to live? The Council hadn't quiet mentioned anything about what would happen to her new life. She knew she would never be Justin's biological sister, but what exactly was going on?

"What am I going to do?" Alex asked. There was an awkward pause as everyone realized that The Council really hadn't given them an answer to that question. Thankfully, Chief Green hadn't gone too far, and the Russo family was able to bring him back to answer that question. When she asked him, he gave an audible sigh.

"Not anymore," Chief Green said. "The Council spoke to me after the trial. Your other family's mind has been erased. You will now live with the Russo's."

"But what about Justin and I?"

"The Russo family will be your temporary legal guardians. Once you turn eighteen you can sever all ties with them, and you will be allowed to be with Justin."

"It's a good thing we have that weight room that we can turn into a bedroom," Theresa said.

"Weight room?" Alex asked. Well they would have had to do something with that extra room now that she was no longer their real daughter.

Justin just nodded. The family was standing around, awkwardly shifting around. Only Max was oblivious, as he immediately went to the fridge in search of food.

"Well," Theresa finally said. "I might as well make some dinner."

"And here is the part where I'm supposed to say 'time for wizard lessons," He shook his head.

"Dad," Justin said.

Jerry just glanced at him. "Sorry. I'll just have to get used to Max being the family wizard."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Max said. Everyone looked at him.

"You have peanut butter on your forehead," Alex said.

Jerry groaned. "Max, come on, I have to teach you magic."

"Why? I'm automatically the wizard."

"Which is exactly why you need a lesson. Now."

"That's bunk," Max grumbled and followed Jerry out of the room. Five seconds later he came back through the door. "I forgot this," He said. He grabbed the jar of peanut butter and a spoon, then left.

"Don't ruin your appetite for dinner!" Theresa called. But she cracked a tiny smile and began to make preparations for pasta. This left Justin and Alex, still holding hands, just standing there.

"Alex, I need to talk to you," Justin said. Alex waited.

"In…my room," He said more quietly.

"Oh," Alex said, and began to follow him up the stairs.

"I don't care if you are in love I want that door open!" Theresa shouted up to them.

"We are just talking!" Alex insisted, and then ran to Justin's room.

He sat on the floor leaning against the bed, and she sat across from him, picking at the carpet. Thankfully she was beginning to clear her head, and questions were buzzing around in her head.

"So, Alex-"

"Me first," Alex said. She had to know. "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Why did you give up your powers? You could have been with me and been a wizard."

Justin sighed, and settled back.

"Well?"

"It was a trick."

"What was a trick?" Alex asked.

"Alex, the entire time we were there, what did you notice about The Council?"

"That they were creepy."

"Anything else?"

Giving him a confused look, she frowned and tried to think. "They…never showed any emotion?"

"Exactly."

"So…" Alex tried to sort it out. "If you were to become a member of The Council…"

"I would be powerful, but I would be unable to feel anything. Even love."

"But-" Alex tried to gather her thoughts. She was still having a hard time thinking through everything. "The Council Leader expressed some…feelings."

"Very little. And by the time, if ever, I became the Leader, it would've been too late anyways," Justin said. "They were trying to trick me."

Alex smiled. "Good thing you're too smart for them."

Justin smiled, too. "And now I can have you. No matter what."

Alex uncrossed her legs and pulled herself forward so she could wrap her arms around Justin's neck.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, and they leaned to kiss. Moving his hands to her hair, he pressed her closer.

Finally, all the weight was lifted off of him.

He could have her for as long as he wanted.

And even though three years would be a long time until they could announce their relationship publicly, the idea that it would finally happen made him so happy that it didn't matter how long he would have to wait.

Nothing could come between them this time.

"Justin," Alex whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

He smiled widely as he kissed her again. "I love you too."

"Even if you are a dork."

"I resent that."

"You can't resent the truth Justin," She said.

He rolled his eyes. "Some things never change."

"Except your bloodline."

"I'm glad you can make a joke about this now."

"Aren't you?"

"Very."

"I can't believe you had to break the rules for it to happen."

"Yeah let's not make a habit of that."

"We can't," Alex pointed out. "We're mortals now remember?"

"Happy mortals."

"Very happy mortals."

"Are you happy though?" Justin asked, pulling back so she would know he's serious.

Alex chewed her lip. "Of course. I have you."

"Aw who's the mushy dork now?"

Since she really couldn't think of a good comeback, she just kissed him, silencing any arguments.

For now at least, everything was perfect.

**Here it if people, the ending. (sniffle) It was a great ride, I hope. Thanks so much for all my reviewers I really appreciate you all! **

**I may be working on new fanfiction in the future. I have a few ideas (check out my profile) Tell me what you think in a PM or something, I love feedback!**

**I hope you enjoyed the story, I never thought that a lemon oneshot would have turned out to be this! **

**And thanks for all those who stuck by the story through the very beginning! **

**-Whatitseems **


	25. Sequel Preview

**Alright guys I know it's been a while. I was in a little of a writer's block…I did write several stories but none of them were worth continuing. But since I did have great success with this story, I decided a sequel may be in order. I'm not sure how well it will work, but I do have the story outlined. And since its summer I expect updating to be much easier. This chapter is a little preview of the sequel, and I hope you guys will enjoy it as much as the first one. **

_Justin paced back and forth on the tile floor, his sneakers making hollow taps that echoed in the silence. Every now and then he would pause and glance at the countertop, where, perched carefully near the window was a black wand. On the side the gold letter flashed from the light of the light overhead. _

_Justin sighed and looked away. Whenever he laid eyes on the magical instrument he couldn't help the automatic bile that rose to his throat. Against his better judgment, he decided to cast a quick peek at the clock, where the hand showed he had about ten more minutes. Ten minutes until his life changed. Whether or not it was for the better was up to him. _

_But unfortunately that was exactly the problem. What was the right way?_

_Justin groaned and sank to the floor thoroughly defeated. In the room directly above his head, Alex sat on their bed, coughing and wasting away to nothing. _

_Outside of his house, a group of rebel hopefuls waited, the fate of their lives and families resting in the hands of one man. One regular, non-magical human. At least for now. _

_Justin shook his head. He now had five minutes. _

_"What do you want from me?" He whispered. He had to choose. But could he? How could he? The one person he loved most in the world was about to be taken from him….or he could save her…and keep the world in the delicate position it was in. He needed more time, but that was not an option._

_Lifting his head up, Justin carefully stood, and as the clock began to count down to the last minute, he made his way to the black wand. He took a deep breath, and gingerly picked the wand up and pointed it to the open window. _

_"I hope you can forgive me," Justin said, before casting the spell. As the light entered the darkness, the Wizard Council symbol flashed for a second, before the wand self destructed in Justin's hands. _

______________________________________________________________ _

_The Leader of the Wizard Council was not happy. _

_One minute to midnight, and he still had no answer. He had known it would take the boy quite some time to come up with his answer, but this was pushing it. The fate of his plan was resting in this one moment, and the Leader was starting to get worried. _

_He took out his anxiety on his flask, where an amber liquid sloshed, a good percent of it already consumed. He took another sip before letting out an impatient growl and tossing it to the stone wall, where it shattered into a million pieces. The smell of alcohol was released into the air, and it did nothing to calm his nerves. _

_Just as the Leader was about to yell for his second in command, he came running in, out of breathe, a trait unusual for a council member, who strived for control of all things, even emotion. _

_"What is it?" The Leader said irritably. He did not like to be interrupted when he was fuming. It was bad for his image. _

_"Sir, we received the answer."_

_"Yes?" Immediately he was interested. _

_"It was…green. Sir. Mr. Russo will cooperate." _

_The Leader let out a small, genuine small. Something never before seen by an actual person. _

_"Very good." He said, and reached for a second wand on the table. This one was a dark purple. "Give our new friend this present. And our response." _

_The council member bowed. "Will do Sir." _

_The Leader nodded, and turned to face the moonless night. "Well Mr. Russo. Welcome to the Wizard Council." _

Depredation Contract

First chapter will be post within a week. Please tell me what you think!

-WhatItSeems.


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